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 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. ( )

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. ( )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Prin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWNvABRgL9o
http://agricola.utu.fi/julkaisut/kirja-arvostelut/index.php?id=1670 ( )

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. ( )

Bien llevada la trama, muy entretenida la historia ( )