Kiki Man Ray or Kiki Montparnasse as she was also known by, is a fantastic look at the life of a pivotal person in the art and lifestyle of Paris in the early 20th century. She is someone who was unabashedly willing to live how she wanted without conforming to the expectations of what was expected of women in Paris during that time. She was an artist model and muse to many famous artists and also significantly with Man Ray. They had a tumultuous relationship to say the least, and we also learn about his very interesting background. I really enjoyed learning more about her since I had seen her as the subject of many of his photographs. It is great to see she is finally getting her due!

Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

This book was really insightful. It was different than anything I've read in the past. It really did impact my reading life in a positive way.

If you are a great enthusiast of the Parisian writers and artists of this era, you’ll likely enjoy this immersive trip to Montparnasse in its heyday as a community of creatives.

There’s a good amount of lesser-known information on Kiki herself here, as well as a plenty of background on the community and its inhabitants if you’re new to the subject.

That Kiki was a character who added much to the local color is undoubtable, as is the fact that she never got the credit she deserved for much of anything because she was a woman. But I find myself disagreeing with one of the principal arguments made by this book, which is an assertion that Kiki was some sort of genius as an artist.

Was she a better artist than she was credited as? Absolutely. But does she belong in the company of Man Ray and other greats of the era as a creator of timeless value and skill? Nah. I further disagree with the argument that Kiki was so greatly responsible for Man Ray’s genius. But then, I’m never one to overvalue the true “contribution” of a muse.

That said, as a larger than life character of the neighborhood in a neighborhood where everyone is a character, Kiki is certainly a standout, and it’s fun to read about her exploits and also the path that led her there.

Many thanks to W.W. Norton Company for the review copy.

Kiki Man Ray is a spirited attempt to give light to a historical figure who constantly appears in the margins of other people's stories. So many monolithic cultural figures rub shoulders in the early twentieth century in Paris: Hemingway, Joyce, Picasso, Breton, Chanel, Stein, the list goes on and on. And in each of their memoirs or biographies you might catch a glimpse of a lively artist, model, singer, and actress: Kiki de Montparnasse.

This book sheds more light on Kiki's life, marshaling Kiki's memoir, newspaper clippings, and other people's writings to piece together her story. One of its central goals seems to be to get us to take Kiki more seriously as an artist and creator, rather than just a model or muse. This gets trite very quickly. Cliched sentences abound as Braude grasps for any influence that Kiki may have had on the content of the paintings that depict her, beyond modeling for them. This is not at all to say that I don't think models have any influence on meaning, and obviously, even if they did not their contribution is still enormously significant. Still, if we don't have the sources to back it up then reading endless sentences about what she "must have" or "might have" or "likely" did is boring.

Braude also seems to have ambitions to make us take Kiki seriously as a painter, but he doesn't subject her paintings to the kind of critique or analysis that would support this claim. Whenever Braude recounts dismissive reviews of Kiki's work by other modernists, I couldn't help but think that they weren't any less dismissive than his surface-level descriptions of her work.

Kiki's story is interesting and this is a lively portrait of 1920s Paris but the overall vibe of this book is primarily sentimental.

For a book about two highly accomplished visual artists, whose works are referenced constantly in the text, this book has No Pictures?! A huge disappointment, since the subject material is so fascinating and deserves a great bio. I was very disappointed in this book.