COntENts
Preface
Josiane Lei, Maire d’Évian
Man Ray: the Palais Lumière exhibits a master Robert Rocca, Pierre-Yves Butzbach
Man Ray before Man Ray
Serge Sanchez
Self-portrait
Robert Rocca
Dadaism to Surrealism
Pierre-Yves Butzbach
Dadamade
Man Ray
Ray-ography
Pierre-Yves Butzbach
Électricité, 1931
Pierre-Yves Butzbach
International Surrealist
Exhibition of 1938
Pierre-Yves Butzbach
Six Muses and a Photographer
Sylvie Gonzalez
Solarization
The Faces of Man Ray
The Marquis de Sade
Pierre-Yves Butzbach
Man Ray, the Couturier of the Nude Laurence Benaïm
Man Ray’s Paris
Serge Sanchez
The Art of Fashion
Marie-Pierre Ribère
The Cinepoems of Man Ray
Jean-Michel Bouhours
The Many Paths of Man Ray
Pierre-Yves Butzbach
Biographical highlights
List of exhibited works reproduced in the catalog
List of exhibited works not reproduced in the catalog
Essential Bibliography
Fig. 1
Tapestry
c. 1970
Drawing in colored pencil
Fig. 2
Pin-up
1970
Mixed media with needles and pins on panel
Man RaY before mAN RAy
In1970, when Man Ray was already well known, a journalist from New York Magazine wrote that “he would probably end up going down in history as a clever, slightly scandalous artist who never really found himself.” However, upon closer examination of his work, one can easily refute this reputation of Man Ray being a fickle and superficial jack-of-all-trades. Let’s look at a few examples.
Tapestry (fig. 1), a piece of patchwork in wool made by Man Ray in 1911 using scraps of fabric recovered from his father’s workshop, echoes the quilt sewn by his mother at his birth. Man would again return to the world of sewing with Close-up, a 1963 ready-made consisting of an assortment of 79 needles glued to paper, as well as seven years later, in 1970, with another set of needles mischievously entitled Pin-up (fig. 2).
The idea behind Suicide dates back to 1916. It consisted of a canvas with a gun behind it, operated remotely by a string. Man Ray was inspired by the difficult moments in his relationship with Adon Lacroix. In 1932, after his separation from Lee Miller, he created a different version of Suicide (fig. 3): a photographic self-portrait with a rope around his neck and a gun at his temple. In the same year, in a new homage to Lee Miller, he started on À l’heure de l’Observatoire - Les Amoureux (fig. 4), a well-conceived canvas depicting a mouth floating in the Paris sky with the Paris Observatory in the background. Observatories had been the subject of drawings since 1914.
Numerous other examples of this kind could be cited, too. This continuity of inspiration was mixed with a mischievous spontaneity that was Man Ray’s trademark. But how did it all begin? The first ‘pictorial’ anecdote he could remember dates back to 1898. He was eight. In February, the American battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbor, killing 260 people. The image of the destroyed ship was on the front page of every newspaper. Manny, as he was commonly known at the time, reproduced it meticulously and daubed it with bright colors, thus discovering that color could change the appearance of reality, and who knows, perhaps reality itself.
In the autumn of 1904, while his family was in New York City, Manny started high school on Marcy Avenue. They taught architecture, mechanics, and carpentry. He was a good student, with a passion for art history, painting, and industrial design. Leonardo davinci was his role model. He visited the city’s museums and copied chromolithographs and prints. He also had his younger sisters, dogs, and cats pose for him and spent his pocket money on tubes of paint. Occasionally, he would steal some from the hardware store. Man Ray always believed that the artist was a distinct being capable of limitless possibilities and creative endeavors.
In the summer of 1908, at five o’clock in the morning, he would take the Reid Avenue trolleybus and exit the city. He would then paint real-life landscapes, following
Fig. 4
À l’heure de l’Observatoire, les Amoureux 1934/1967
Lithograph
Fig. 5
Self-portrait. Ridgefield 1915
“From 1913 to 1915, I lived in the country, near New York; it was peaceful! I had a little cottage for which I paid a hundred francs a month – I had no money, but it was wonderful...”*
*unless otherwise stated, the quotations followed by an asterisk are extracts from Man Ray’s Self Portrait, translated from English by Anne Guérin, Robert Laffont, Paris 1964.
“The red lips floated in a gray-blue sky, above a crepuscular landscape where one could see, on the horizon, an observatory and its two domes, like breasts, barely suggested in the half-light. It was a memory from Luxembourg. Probably due to their dimensions, the two lips resembled two bodies embracing.”*
the example of the Impressionists. It was at this time that he made the decision to become a painter. From this period, we are aware of a self-portrait with a scarf around his neck and views from his studio window. In 1910, Mrs Medvedev commissioned her portrait, thereby securing a small place in the history of art as Man Ray’s first client.
After 1910, Man keenly began to frequent Gallery 291. The gallery had opened in 1905, at the initiative of two photographers, Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen. Way ahead of his time, Stieglitz fought for the recognition of photography as an art form in its own right. He had edited the magazine Camera Work, which promoted Rodin and Matisse and claimed that each of the reproductions it contained was a work of art. At Gallery 291, Man saw watercolors by Cézanne, sculptures by Brancusi, African art and Picasso’s first exhibition in America.
In 1912, he enrolled at the Ferrer Modern School. They taught art there against a backdrop of social criticism. It is true that it was founded by the famous anarchist Emma Goldman. One of the teachers was Robert Henri, the leader of the Ashcan School, or Trash Can School, rumored to be a real “revolutionary black gang” aiming to dismantle the established art salons through unconventional means. The members of the Ashcan School painted scenes of everyday life in the slums: drunkards, boxing matches and prostitutes. It was a committee of artists close to the Ashcan School that organized the ‘Armory Show’ in 1913, which introduced Picabia to theunited States and made Marcel Duchamp famous there.
One evening in the spring of that year, Man visited an artists’ hamlet not far from New York, in Ridgefield, New Jersey. They lived a simple, country life there. They used an oil lamp for light and bought milk and eggs from the farm. A well provided the water. Man decided to move there (fig. 5). New York was close by and his work at the McGraw Publishing Company, a publisher of technical books, gave him time to paint on evenings and weekends.
On 27 August 1913, his twenty-third birthday, he had a decisive encounter with Adon Lacroix, who proved to be an initiator in both the sensual and artistic realms. Of Belgian origin, Adon had an excellent knowledge of French literature and introduced her lover to authors such as Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Apollinaire and above all Lautréamont, Surrealism’s favorite author.
In August and September 1914, Man submitted strongly anti-militarist drawings to the magazine Mother Earth (fig. 6). He was working on a large canvas, MCMXIV (fig. 7), which depicted a grim procession of men and horses in a faded landscape, a reminder of the war that was raging across the Atlantic.
One Sunday in the autumn of 1915, a wealthy collector, Walter Arensberg, came to Ridgefield accompanied by Marcel Duchamp (fig. 11). It is best to let Man Ray himself describe the encounter: “Duchamp did not speak English,” he explained, “and my French was non-existent. Donna1 acted as an interpreter, but most of the time they spoke together very quickly. I brought some old tennis rackets and a ball, and we
1 As Man informally called Adon.
Fig. 6
Cover of Mother Earth 1914
Drawing by Man Ray
In December 1916, during his second exhibition at the Daniel Gallery, he presented Autoportrait (fig. 10). Against a background of black paint and aluminum, two electric bells represented eyes. The artist’s handprint served as a signature. Another work, Portrait Hanging, was hung at a crooked angle on the wall. This touch of impertinence was now part of his style.
In April 1921, Man Ray and Duchamp together published the only issue of New York Dada (fig. 11). The cover featured a photograph by Man Ray: Rrose Sélavy, a portrait of Duchamp dressed as a woman wearing a cocked hat (fig. 15). Man had been photographing his work with a Brownie since 1909. One shot taken in Ridgefield shows Adon with a guitar on her lap; another shows Man and Adon sitting in front of the door to their house. Later, he photographedvarèse,4 one of his first important models. Man also used his camera to reproduce his own works or those of his friends. Duchamp, for example, asked him to take photographs of Grand Verre in progress. As the window of his studio had been left ajar, the two huge glass panels on which he had begun to glue lead wire with the aid of varnish were covered in dust. However, this setback did not discourage him. Man Ray took a photograph, now famous, of them, which he baptized Élevage de poussière (fig. 12)
In 1918, he photographed clothes pegs and a cup, in a sort of disconcerting composition called Shadows (fig. 13) Photography was no longer limited to reproducing reality. It was becoming a new mode of expression. In 1920, for example, he photographed sheets on a clothesline being blown by the wind, an image he described as sculpture in motion, and he titled it Flying Dutchman.
Man Ray and Duchamp also experimented with cinematic art. They made a memorable short film: Madame la Baronne Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven se rase le pubis and worked on a 3D film using two cameras attached to the same film (fig. 14). During this stimulating period, they created with Katherine S. Dreier, a wealthy American patron and painter, the Société anonyme, Inc. which proposed to bring together works that would make up the collection of the first museum in America devoted exclusively to modern art.5
But it was in France that Man Ray’s artistic future lay. He arrived at Le Havre on 14 July 1921. On the very day of his arrival in Paris, he met André Breton and his band of artists. Contrary to popular belief, he was not destined to become a disciple of Surrealism, but one of its main initiators.
Fig. 10
Self-portrait 1916–1970
Screenprint on altuglas
4
5
Fig. 11
Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, Newyork Dada, withbelle Haleine, photograph by Rrose Selavy (Marcel Duchamp in women’s clothing) April 1921
Edgarvarèse, American composer of French origin (1883-1965).
Which was to be offered in 1941 to Yaleuniversity Art Gallery.
Élevage de poussière 1920
“I suggested to Duchamp that I bring my camera to photograph his work Le Grand Verre. I had noticed that Duchamp’s panel was lit by a single bulb, without a shade... By adjusting the lens, I had a bird’s-eye view of the panel, which looked like a strange landscape as seen by a bird. The panel was dusty. Little bits of paper towel and cotton wadding, which had been used to clean the finished elements, added to the mystery of the work. It’s all Duchamp, I thought. He later called the photograph Élevage de poussière.”*
Fig. 12
Fig. 13 Integration of Shadows 1919
Fig. 14
Precision optics by Marcel Duchamp (rotary glass plate) 1920
comments ‘I like it.’ ‘I don’t like it.’ Finally, to satisfy everyone I drew a line down the middle of my face and shaved my face on one side. One side with the beard for those who preferred it, one side without for those who didn’t [...] It’s very practical because you can put a little mirror in the middle and if you angle it properly on one side or the other, you can see me with a full beard or completely clean-shaven...” 3
In 1944 taking up the idea of his 1925 self-portrait Distorsion, Man Ray presented a work in an exhibition in the form of a flexible metal mirror, the label stating the title Autoportrait. The onlooker saw himself reflected in a mirror that was, at the same time, Man Ray’s self-portrait. Whose portrait is it? A fascinating ‘mise en abyme’ involving the idea that every self-portrait is the portrait of another. This disturbing mise en scène was accentuated by the fact that, with the help of pressure on the surface of the flexible mirror, the reflected image was distorted, as shown in the 1944 photograph in which Man Ray is seen placing his finger on the picture-mirror in order to both alter the reflection and indicate that it is him in the mirror. (fig. 7)
Some of Man Ray’s compositions offer a reflection on the self-portrait. The tests for the cover of the album Man Ray. Photographs 1920-19344 are amongst the most interesting. In the one we are presenting (fig. 8) all the components characterising Man Ray’s artistic
3
4
Fig. 3
Self-portrait (reflection in a
1945
Fig. 4
Francesco Mazzola called Il Parmigianino, Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, 1523/1524
Oil on panel
vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Pierre Bourgeade, Bonsoir-Man Ray, Belfond, 1972.
Photographs by Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, Hartford, Conn., J. Thrall Soby, 1934.
ball)
Fig. 5
Self-portrait with a Half-beard signed, 1943
Self-portrait
Self-portrait (in women’s clothing)
Self-portrait. In disguise and made-up, in front of his
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
chessboard 1950
Fig. 3 Rayographies 1923–1924
Fig. 4 Rayographies 1927–1928
attention by exhibiting his works in Surrealist exhibitions. His aim was not to steal the limelight from the Surrealist artists, he was, after all, helping to exhibit their work. To the right of Duchamp’s mannequin stood André Masson’s mannequin, entitled Le bâillon vert à bouche de pensée Then came the mannequins by Seligmann, Max Ernst (in fact two mannequins, a man and a woman), Miró, Augustín Espinoza, Wolfgang Paalen (covered in mushrooms, with a bat on its head), Dalí, Maurice Henry (his mannequin literally had his head in the clouds), Man Ray, Oscar Domínguez, Léo Malet and, finally, Marcel Jean’s mannequin.”
Jean Fraysse (Le Figaro Littéraire, 29 January 1938)
Fig. 2
Invitation card to the opening of the International Surrealist Exhibition on January 17, 1938 at the Galerie Beaux-Arts in Paris Original card 1938
I left my mannequin naked, with glass tears on its face, and glass soap bubbles in its hair. Duchamp simply placed the jacket and hat he had just removed on his mannequin as if the mannequin were a coat rack. It was the least striking of the mannequins on display, but it was a perfect symbol of Duchamp’s desire not to attract too much attention.
Man Ray, Self Portrait, 1964
Fig.
Fig. 31 Ady 1937
The
eye of a great hunter this patience, this sense of the achingly perfect moment, where, in the expression of a face, the balance between reverie and action is established.
André Breton, Photographs by Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, 1934.
10
Elsa Schiaparelli, Longue pèlerine rose transparente et robe multicolore. Sketch for the summer haute-couture collection 1936
Watercolor, gouache and black ink on wove paper
Fig.
THE ART OF FASHION
Fig. 11
Robe de Schiaparelli
Harper’s Bazaar, 1 June 1936
for the summer haute-couture collection 1937
Fig. 12
Elsa Schiaparelli, Robe rose imprimée de papillon.
Sketch
Watercolor, gouache and black ink on wove paper
Fig. 13 Dress by Schiaparelli Harper’s Bazaar, 1937
La vierge, 1973, Lithograph E.A., 25.5 x 35 cm, Private Collection.
Margherite (Ballade de dames hors du temps), 1970, Lithograph on pearlized Japanese paper 8/15 ex, 65 x 50 cm, Private Collection.
Natasha (Ballade de dames hors du temps), 1970, Lithograph E.A., 65 x 50 cm, Private Collection.
Sonia (Ballade de dames hors du temps), 1970, Lithograph on pearlized Japanese paper 8/15 ex, 65 x 50 cm, Private Collection. De l’Origine des Espèces par Voie de Sélection Irrationnelle, 1971 Lithograph E.A., 52 x 37 cm, Private Collection.
One of the Six masques voyants, 1970, Lithograph E.A., 50 x 70 cm, Private Collection.
Electromagie (Découvert), 1969, Lithography 116/150 copies, 37.5 x 28 cm, Private Collection.
Femme et son poisson, 1971, Bronze plate based on a drawing from Les Mains libres, 40 x 55.5 cm, Private Collection.
Anatomes (H), Aquatint Lithograph 58/100, 66 x 51 cm, Private Collection.
Pêchage, 1970 Lithograph 39/100 ex, 67 x 51 cm, Private Collection.
Mythologie Moderne II, 1969, Lithograph 8/175, 65.5 x 48, Private Collection.
L’aventure, 1972, color aquatint + soft paint 76/90, 30.5 x 41 cm, Private Collection.
E SSentiAL BibLIO graPHy
Publications by Man Ray
A Book of Diverse Writings, in collaboration with Adon Lacroix, Ridgefield, 1915 (released in 1920).
New York Dada (special issue), in collaboration with Marcel Duchamp, 1920.
Les Champs Délicieux, portfolio of 12 rayographs, foreword by Tristan Tzara, 1922.
Électricité, advertising portfolio of 10 rayographs for the Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution de l’Électricité, 1931.
Photographs by Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, J. Thrall Soby/ Random House, Hartford (united States) 1934.
Facile, poems by Paul Eluard, photographs of Nusch by Man Ray, G.L.M., Paris 1935.
La photographie n’est pas l’art, foreword by André Breton, 1937.
Les Mains Libres, drawings by Man Ray illustrated with poems by Paul Eluard, Éditions Jeanne Bucher, Paris 1937.
Alphabet for Adults, Colpley Galleries, Beverly Hills, California 1948.
Self Portrait, Little Brown and Co, Boston 1963 (French version: Autoportrait, Robert Laffont, Paris 1964).
Les treize clichés vierges, Sergio Tosi, Milan 1968.
Analphabet, Nadada Editions, New York 1974.
Les Voies Lactées, Galleria Il Fauno, Turin 1974.
Publications on Man Ray
Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Man Ray, NRF, Paris 1929, “Peintres nouveaux” series.
Janus, Man Ray, Fratelli Fabbri editori, Milan 1973.
Roland Penrose, Man Ray, Thames & Hudson, London and Chêne, Paris, 1975.
Opera Grafica, Studio Marconi, Milan 1973–1984.
Serge Bramly, Man Ray, Belfond, Paris 1980.
Janus, Man Ray. Tutti gli scritti, Feltrinelli, Milan 1981.
Man Ray. Photographe, Philippe Sers Éditeur, Paris 1982.
Man Ray. Objets de mon affection, Philippe Sers Éditeur, Paris 1983.
Merry A. Foresta, Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Abbeville Press, 1988.
Man Ray, Bazaar Years, Rizzoli International Publication, New York 1988.
Timothy Baum, Man Ray’s Paris Portraits: 1921-1930, Middendorf Gallery, Washington, D.C. 1989.
Neil Baldwin, Man Ray, Plon, Paris 1990.
Man Ray. La photographie à l’envers, Centre Georges Pompidou / Le Seuil, Paris 1998.
Herbert Lottman, Man Ray à Montparnasse, Hachette Littérature, Paris 2001.
Essential Bibliography
Bibliographie express
Emmanuelle de l’Écotais (ed.), Man Ray, rayographies, Éditions Léo Scheer, Paris 2002.
Clément Chéroux (ed.), Man Ray Portraits. Paris Hollywood Paris, Éditions du Centre Pompidou, Paris 2010.
Serge Sanchez, Man Ray, Gallimard, Paris 2014, “Folio biographies” series.
Jennifer Mundy (ed.), Man Ray. Writings on art, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA 2015.
Man Ray. Human Equations, Hatje Cantzverlag, Berlin 2015.