LIFE IN TWO WORLDS: A True Chronicle of the Origins of Montparnasse

by Marevna Vorobev ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A dust jacket with a reproduction of Picasso's portrait of the author is the suitable garb in which this autobiography faces the world. As one of the original exponents of Cubism, Vorobev has had place in an intimate circle including Modigliani, Ilya Ehrenburg and Picasso as well as poets and writers like Maxim Gorki, who gave her the nickname Marevna sarina, meaning sea-princess. Born the natural daughter of an expatriate Polish forestry official, Vorobev's early life reads like a hideous Russian version, first of lolita, then of Pryton Place, as she was often left in the charge of uncongenial adults. Striking out on her own to advance her artistic education in Italy and France, she was barely able to survive the rigors of poverty in an era when artists relied largely on the noblesse oblige of the rich. In time, she became the mistress of Diego Rivera, before his frescoes had achieved international renown. Despite the pathetic, often sordid, nature of her existence, Vorobev has somehow endowed her story with an inner splendor as she describes the geniuses she has known. She spares no one, including herself, from the harsh light of psychological speculation, but a spirit of forgiveness softens the somewhat nasty outlines of a violently experimental period in artistic history.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Abelard-Schuman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION