Contradiction is in every layer of Dora Maar’s being. Whatever will follow, bear this in mind, for I will focus on a single feature, a single but decisive distinction. The rest will remain in the shadow, for shadow outlines the form.

Contradiction is in every layer of Dora Maar’s being. Her photography is absorbing. Her empathy penetrates her model’s thoughts and registers them in the domain of the visual. This is how we recognise good photography, but it does not completely define Dora Maar’s photography. There is more to it. There is this something which makes the model (Picasso and friends) or an event (the making of Guernica) step out of the photography before our enchanted eyes. What we see is the event; the photography is gone.