Description

In freewheeling 1920s Paris Kiki de Montparnasse captivated as a nightclub performer sold out gallery showings of her paintings starred in Surrealist films and shared drinks and ideas with the likes of Jean Cocteau and Marcel Duchamp Her bestselling memoirfeaturing an introduction by Ernest Hemingwaymade frontpage news in France and was immediately banned in America All before she turned thirty

Kiki was once the symbol of bohemian Paris But if she is remembered today it is only for posing for several nowcelebrated male artists including Amedeo Modigliani and Alexander Calder and especially photographer Man Ray

Kiki and Man Ray met in 1921 during a chance encounter at a caf What followed was an explosive decadelong connection both professional and romantic during which the couple grew and experimented as artists competed for fame and created many of the shocking images that cemented Man Rays reputation as one of the great artists of the modern era

Charting their volatile relationship awardwinning historian Mark Braude illuminates for the first time Kikis seminal influence not only on Man Rays art but on the culture of 1920s Paris and beyond