Christian Bouqueret - Assia (Sublime Modèle) - 2006

ISBN 9782862343204.
Dimensions. 25.5 x 2 x 30 cm.
Weight 1.2 kg.

Photo book with photos from 1930-1935 of Assia Granatouroff (1911–1982), usually simply known as Assia, she was one of the most famous Parisian fashion models and artistic models of the interwar period (the time between the First and Second World War). She was born in Ukraine, but moved to France, where she grew into the muse of countless famous photographers, painters and sculptors.

She was born on October 6, 1911 in Pervomajsk (Ukraine). In the 1920s she moved to Paris.
Discovery: Photographer Roger Schall discovered her around 1930, after which her career as a model quickly took off.
The ultimate model: Assia was known for her strong, healthy and athletic body. In the 1930s she was regarded as the absolute beauty ideal for the modern woman.

Assia posed (often nude) for the greatest names in the Parisian art world:
1. Photographers: She worked with pioneers of photography such as Dora Maar, Ergy Landau and Germaine Krull. Her photos can still be seen in museums such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
2. Sculptors: She was the muse of Charles Despiau. He created a very famous statue of her in 1937, simply called Assia. An impression cast of this statue is located outdoors in Rotterdam, by the way.
3. Painters: Great masters such as Kees van Dongen and André Derain captured her on canvas.

Besides her work as a model, Assia worked as an actress in theatre and in the 1930s appeared in various French films, such as Les Yeux Noirs (1935) and Mayerling (1936).
During World War II she had to go into hiding and flee because she was of Jewish origin. She survived the war by escaping to Switzerland. After the war she stopped modeling and focused on her own art, including the making of tapestries inspired by tarot cards and spiritual floral paintings. She died in May 1982 in Paris from complications of bone cancer.