Amar Singh Art Gallery in London is celebrating photographer Don Maar’s life with its latest exhibition. It comes in conjunction with the release of bestselling author Louisa Treger’s book The Paris Muse, based on Maar’s affair with Picasso, and the theatrical production Maar, Dora, which was performed at Camden Fringe in August and was produced by Amar Singh Art Gallery, Nadia Jackson, and Spiky Saul.
Founded by British-Indian Amar Singh, the art gallery in London is a place that champions overlooked female, minority, and LGBT+ artists. As for Amar, he is also an art dealer, film producer, female rights advocate, LGBQT+ ally, and philanthropist. He has been instrumental in fighting against LGBQT+ conversion therapy in India and has campaigned for the legislation of same-sex relationships in the country.
Amar’s art inspirations include Helen Frankenthaler, Dora Maar, Jean Cocteau, Lynne Mapp Drexler, Grace Harrigan, Perle Fine, Judith Godwin, Lawrence Calcagno, Alice Baber, Howard Tangye—most of these trailblazing artists he has shown at his first London gallery in Islington. With Dora Maar: Behind the Lens exhibition at Amar Singh Art Gallery, he presents surrealist works by Maar and photographs of Picasso and Guernica, the celebrated anti-war paintings for which Maar was the only official photographer. It also revisits Maar’s erasure throughout art history as her position as Picasso’s lover obscured her artistic talent, which extended far beyond photography, and included poetry and painting.
Amar says about his work, “At Amar Singh art gallery, I love to show artists of impact who have been overlooked. We are a research-led gallery, diving into the past (typically the 1930s and 1970s), trying to discover any artists who were overlooked due to gender, race, or sexuality,” adding, “Dora Maar is one of my favourite artists, and her works are truly groundbreaking. Her mastery of photography and painting highlights that she was a visionary ahead of her time. Maar was resilient; she survived until an old age despite being disregarded as an artist and often only revered as Picasso’s weeping woman. She was so much more than that.”
Discussing how art can contribute to an equal society, Amar says, “While the art world can be pretentious, art itself is very healing, and it is also a medium representing humanity’s history. We can look towards this history and strive to be better. Various art forms remain symbols of justice, equal rights, and love,” sharing that part of the proceeds from Dora Maar: Behind the Lens at Amar Singh Art Gallery will go towards supporting Shakti Vahini and We Power, two notable anti-trafficking organisations in India which serve to protect women and children in the country.
Revealing what’s next in store for Amar Singh Art Gallery, he says, “The next exhibition in September will be of artist Lawrence Calcagno, an overlooked LGBT+ artist who was the student of Mark Rothko, the companion of Beauford Delaney, and a supporter of artists of colour during the civil rights movement. So yes, very powerful, in my opinion.”