Kiki de Montparnasse

I am ashamed to admit that, for a long time, I was snobbishly anti graphic books: all the prejudices were displayed, "I'm too old for comics", etc.

I was wrong.

The graphic format gives this biography an immediacy which suits its subject. Kiki, or Alice, as she was christened, was a lady who lived life to the full. As so often happens, life took its revenge and she ended her days in a pretty sad condition. I genuinely feel that, through these pages, I know Kiki far better than I would have done from a traditional print biography.

An excellent book.

Not being quite the arty type, I was introduced to and fell in love with Man Ray's work during an art appreciation class my freshman year of college. I melted when I got to see a lot of his work in the flesh at an amazing Surrealist exhibit at the Met in 2002. "Le Violon d'Ingres" has adorned the background of my MP3 player ever since I got it five years ago. His output with Kiki de Montparnasse as his muse remains some of my favorite work of his, but never have I come across anything about the personal life of this woman. So I was extra excited when I read about the existence of this graphic novel.

This hefty tome covers a near yearly account of Kiki's life, and we get a clear picture of just how rooted she was in the art world from the show more late 1910s onward. I wondered, though, by the time I was deep in the novel, about the aims of the author. I had a feeling he wanted to elicit a feeling of sympathy for the tragedy in Kiki's life, but I found her to be simply neurotic much of the time. Sure, her hard-knock upbringing didn't give her a terribly strong foundation, and there were a few instances where I truly felt sorry for her, but mostly I just saw a woman who didn't know what she wanted and demanded a lot without any real consideration for those around her. Her naivete seemed to have persisted through most of her life. This hardly seems emancipated, as the book's synopsis claims her to be...unless you consider emancipation the ability to live in Paris by hopping from one man's bed to another and doing lots of blow. Not quite the person I'd suggest a young woman to look up to. DESPITE THIS, I really did appreciate the chance to get a glimpse into the life of this legend, which I might not have otherwise come across, and it has prompted me to go back and search through all my books for images of Kiki now that I have a better understanding of her as a person. show less

Alice Prin moves from rural France to Paris and becomes an artists' muse and model and becomes known as Kiki, the Queen of Montparnasse. Although the drawing style isn't extremely exciting, I very much enjoyed following Kiki's story, especially her relationship with Man Ray, seeing as I've seen her in so many of his photographs. Graphic novels are such a great format for memoirs and this is really one of the better ones - the story arc of her real life was just made for fiction.

Bien llevada la trama, muy entretenida la historia

A graphic novel biography of Kiki, who was Man Ray's muse, as well as a dancer, painter, model, singer and bohemian girl. Kiki is a free-spirited woman who lives life to the full in Paris.

Paris har altid været et centrum for kunst og kultur, men sjældent mere markant end i 1920’erne. Forfattere, malere, skulptører, dansere og andet godtfolk fandt sammen om dadaisme og surrealisme – helt nye kunstretninger, der kom til at præge århundredets kunst. Midt i det hele var Alice Prin, kaldet Kiki, der optrådte som model, elskerinde og muse, hvis hun da ikke selv var udøvende maler og sangerinde.

De mange kendte mennesker i miljøet er selvfølgelig med til at fange interessen hos læseren, men det er en af bogens store styrker, at den fortæller historien gennem Kiki, og at man faktisk aldrig har en fornemmelse af name-dropping, selvom intet ville være nemmere.

Alice Prin vokser op hos sin bedstemor i en lille fransk show more provinsby. Det er en skidt familiebaggrund. Faderen ikke vil kendes ved hende, og moderen stikker af til Paris for at realisere sig selv. Bedstemoderen er det eneste faste holdepunkt, og selvom det ville være fjollet at opfatte den selvstændige Kiki som en stakkel, så er det nemt at se, at hendes egen flagrende natur og mange elskere til dels udspringer her.

Kiki kommer til Paris i 1916, og efter nogle år som fattig arbejderske og småprostitueret – det fremgår ikke klart, om hun sælger sex eller ”bare” blotter sig for småpenge – bliver hun model hos nogle af de nye kunstnere. I starten er det et liv i små kår, men efterhånden som de slår igennem, går det også Kiki bedre. Det tætteste forhold får hun til den berømte amerikanske fotograf Man Ray, som også har taget det fotografi, som tegnes efter på bogens forside.

Det er et liv præget af fest, druk og skabertrang, og med sin livfuldhed og varme bliver Kiki et naturligt midtpunkt. Hun er altid med på skæg og ballade, men hun er også en dygtig model og har en personlighed, der inspirerer mange af de kunstnere, hun omgiver sig med. Højdepunktet kommer i 1929, hvor hun kåres som ”Dronning af Montparnasse.”

På det tidspunkt er miljøet ved at forandre sig, og områdets nedtur falder sammen med Kikis. Hendes forhold til Man Ray går i opløsning, og selvom hun har nogle gode år som varietésangerinde i 30’erne, så ødelægger et stigende alkohol- og kokainmisbrug efterhånden hendes helbred. Man Ray er chokeret, da han møder hende i Paris efter krigen, og hun dør ret ensom i 1953.

Catels tegninger er holdt i en enkelt sort-hvid streg. Personernes karakteristika fanges i enkelte træk – f.eks. Man Rays høje hår og tydelige øjenbryn. Det fungerer faktisk vældig godt, og stilen gør det muligt at fremstille de mange nøgenscener, uden at det fremstår pornografisk.

Kiki fra Montparnasse er en fint fortalt historie, om en usædvanlig kvinde, der levede et usædvanligt liv. Det var et liv, der bragte hende i berøring med en stribe af tidens mest berømte kunstnere, men det er hendes egen skæbne, der får bogen til at hænge sammen og gøre den til vedkommende kunst. show less