Book review: Dora Versus Picasso, Cecil Jenkins

Dora Versus Picasso
Cecil Jenkins, Matador, £8.99

Part-biography, part-fiction, this novel charts the tumultuous relationship between Pablo Picasso and his lover – Surrealist photographer Dora Maar – to the tense political backdrop of the interwar period in Paris. This makes interesting reading for art enthusiasts, notably for its description of the surprisingly central role played by Maar in the conceptualisation of Guernica – a triumph of painting in an era that was gradually prioritising photography over traditional art forms, to Picasso’s dismay. As a proto-feminist, the plot told from the female photographer’s perspective also meditates on the glamourised yet limiting status of artist’s muse. ★★★

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