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[Boy with a Cat]

Dora Maar French
1934
Not on view
From 1930 to 1934 Maar turned her camera to the inhabitants of the streets of Paris and London, blending documentary and Surrealist modes. Her photographs often focus on socially marginal figures such as the poor or disabled, revealing her own political engagement. In this striking image, an adolescent with rumpled hair protectively grasps a cat to his chest, his gaze challenging Maar’s camera. The boy’s expression and posture imbue this chance encounter—and the composition—with an arresting psychological dimension.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: [Boy with a Cat]
  • Artist: Dora Maar (French, Paris 1907–1997 Paris)
  • Date: 1934
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 16 5/16 × 11 7/16 in. (41.4 × 29 cm)
    Mat: 27 9/16 in. × 25 in. (70 × 63.5 cm)
    Frame: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Twentieth-Century Photography Fund and Kurtz Family Foundation Gift, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.40
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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Père Ubu, Dora Maar French, Gelatin silver print
Père Ubu
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[Woman and Child in Window, Barcelona], Dora Maar French, Gelatin silver print
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[Woman and Child in Window, Barcelona]
Dora Maar
Pierre Kéfer
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La Colonne Morris dans le Brouillard, Brassaï French, born Romania (Transylvania), Gelatin silver print
La Colonne Morris dans le Brouillard
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1932, printed ca. 1960
[Nude Study], Germaine Krull French, born Poland, Gelatin silver print
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