Top Art PR Agency JPR Media Group signed art PR client The Amar Gallery which launched as an activist art gallery championing overlooked female, minority, and LGBT+ artists.
(PRUnderground) July 7th, 2024
For the opening, PR agency JPR Media Group secured a long exclusive feature within The Guardian online and The Observer print. This standout piece went viral, being replicated on global news sites. Hundreds of Guardian and Observer readers attended the public exhibition following the published piece.
In addition to the exclusive feature in both the Guardian online and the Observer print, JPR Media Group secured art press features and exhibition listings within Tatler, Fast Art Daily, World of Interiors, The Week, Country & Townhouse, Artlyst, The Handbook, Intelligent Magazine, Burlington Contemporary, ArtPlugged, The Double Negative, Culturalee, ArtRabbit, MEER, Caroline Hunter Blog, and more.
About Dora Maar: Behind the Lens
The opening launch exhibition Dora Maar: Behind the Lens showcased exclusive photographs and photograms from the Dora Maar Estate which are open to the public 16th June – 18th August 2024.
The private preview was hosted by British Indian LGBT+ ally and women’s rights activist Amar Singh and renowned British author Louisa Treger.
The exhibition is a celebration of Maar’s life and is in conjunction with the upcoming 4th July release of bestselling author Louisa Treger’s book, The Paris Muse, based on Maar’s affair with Picasso, and the theatrical production Maar, Dora which is performing at Camden Fringe in August and is produced by Amar Gallery, Nadia Jackson & Spiky Saul.
Louisa Treger states “Dora Maar is mostly known for being Picasso’s Weeping Woman as though tears are the only interesting thing about her. Amar Gallery and my novel put her at the heart of the story and give her the recognition she deserves.”
Dora Maar: Behind the Lens presents surrealist works of Maar as well as photographs of Picasso and Guernica, the celebrated anti-war painting for which Maar was the only official photographer. The exhibition also revisits Maar’s erasure throughout art history. As a photographer she was a pioneer, admired by the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Man Ray. Her position as Picasso’s lover obscured her artistic talent, which extended far beyond photography, and included poetry and painting.
Arriving in Paris at the age of 19, Maar studied at the progressive Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Academy Julian, and Ecole de Photographie. Here she refined her distinctive black and white photographic style. She soon established herself as a prominent photographer associated with surrealism, exhibiting at the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition in London, alongside Salvador Dali, Man Ray, Eileen Agar, and Paul Eluard.
As Time Magazine wrote in 2022 Maar’s anti-fascist worldview influenced Picasso’s art: “Like many surrealist artists, philosophers and poets during the 1930s, Maar had converted to left-wing politics. In fact, she became one of the Left’s most involved activists—a radical move for a woman at a time when women were still largely excluded from politics in France; they only gained the right to vote in 1944.”
Part of the proceeds from Dora Maar: Behind the Lens will go towards supporting Shakti Vahini & We Power, two notable anti-trafficking organisations in India which serve for the protection of women & children in India.
About Kanwar Amar Jit Singh, Founder of Amar Gallery
Amar Singh is a British-Indian art gallery owner, art dealer, film producer, female rights advocate, LGBQT+ ally, and philanthropist. Amar is an activist who has been instrumental in fighting against LGBQT+ conversion therapy in India and he has campaigned for the legislation of same-sex relationships in India. Amar’s charitable support has been focused on the rights and protection of women and children being subjected to violence, exploitation, and trafficking in India.
The Amar Gallery in Fitzrovia will champion minority artists often overlooked based on their gender, sex, and sexuality.
Indian royal Kanwar Amar Jit Singh “Amar Singh” is a member of the erstwhile Kapurthala royal family and is a direct descendent of Raja Nihal Singh, a 19th century Indian king. Amar comes from a long line of activists fighting for equality and women’s rights. Amar’s grandmother Veena Singh, a headmistress and educator in Punjab, championed women’s educational rights during British rule in India alongside India’s first Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Prime Minister Nehru often visited the region and met with Venna as a part of efforts to widen women’s and general education initiatives. Amar’s ancestor Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was India’s first health minister, founded India’s first women’s education fund, and fought for India’s independence alongside Mahatma Gandhi who she served as secretary for 16 years.
Born in the UK, Amar studied at St John’s Beaumont school in Windsor, Charterhouse School in Godalming, Licensed Victuallers School in Ascot for sixth form and Harvard University (which he dropped out from).
Amar’s art inspirations include Helen Frankenthaler, Dora Maar, Renee Cox, Jean Cocteau, Lynne Mapp Drexler, Grace Hartigan, Perle Fine, Judith Godwin, Lawrence Calcagno, Alice Baber, Howard Tangye, Renee Cox – most of these trailblazing artists he has shown at his first London gallery in Islington.
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Original Press Release.
