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A review by meredithmc
Kiki de Montparnasse by Catel, Jose-Luis Bocquet
3.0
i only knew of kiki from the photographs taken by man ray (the most famous of all being the cover art).
her story reads like a fable or another form of often-told story. poor girl is abandoned by her parents (primarily her mother, since her father leads another life), grows up happily then goes to the big city, where she experiences the cultural changes firsthand and finds herself an integral part of an emerging lifestyle & artistic movement. after a brief life of fame, she ends up alone, poor, and desperate.
a more conservative reader might suggest she deserved what she got, with her free sexuality and willingness, but that's not how i saw her story. men continually used her as a muse but rarely did they see the woman beyond the canvas or photograph; kiki herself was talented and sought to experience more of the world but her love (and even dependence) on these men (and drugs) kept her back from what she could've accomplished on her own.
of course, this is all pulled from this book. i'd like to read something more in-depth about her and the art scene in paris during which she lived.
her story reads like a fable or another form of often-told story. poor girl is abandoned by her parents (primarily her mother, since her father leads another life), grows up happily then goes to the big city, where she experiences the cultural changes firsthand and finds herself an integral part of an emerging lifestyle & artistic movement. after a brief life of fame, she ends up alone, poor, and desperate.
a more conservative reader might suggest she deserved what she got, with her free sexuality and willingness, but that's not how i saw her story. men continually used her as a muse but rarely did they see the woman beyond the canvas or photograph; kiki herself was talented and sought to experience more of the world but her love (and even dependence) on these men (and drugs) kept her back from what she could've accomplished on her own.
of course, this is all pulled from this book. i'd like to read something more in-depth about her and the art scene in paris during which she lived.