In her Portrait of Père Ubu, Maar created one of Surrealism’s most striking images. Using extreme close-up and dramatic lighting in an otherwise unmanipulated photograph, she made a nightmarish apparition from a baby armadillo. Both horrific and comical, it is a fitting embodiment of Père Ubu, the obese blundering monster Alfred Jarry created in his notorious play Ubu Roi (1896).
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Inscription: Signed and dated in pencil on mount, recto BR: "Dora Maar 36" inscribed in pencil on mount, recto BL: "Portrait d'Ubu" [underlined]; paper label with red border affixed to BR corner mount recto with inscription in red pencil: "71"; inscribed in pencil on paper label affixed to mount, verso TR: "45" and stamped "210"; circular stamp on mount, verso TC: "Duanes Exposition - Paris" [upside-down]; stamped below label on mount, verso: "GALERIE ROBERT // keizersgracht 5 & 7 // AMSTERDAM - C"
Georges Hugnet; Private Collection, New York; [Mark Kelman Works of Art, New York, by 1978]; Gilman Paper Company Collection, New York, May 10, 1978
New Burlington Galleries. "International Surrealist Exhibition," June 1936–July 1936.
Ginza Gallery. "Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme," June 1937–July 1937.
Galerie Robert, Amsterdam. "Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme," June 1937–Spring 1938.
Germaine Krull (French (born Poland), Wilda-Poznan 1897–1985 Wetzlar, Germany)
1930s
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