Lot n° 14
Estimation :
8000 - 10000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 23 400EUR
MAN RAY (1890-1976)
Élevage de Poussière, 1920
Original gelatin-silver print, numbered 6/8, dated 1975, signed MR 25,5 x 19,5 cm
Élevage de Poussière, 1920
Original gelatin-silver print, numbered 6/8, dated 1975, signed MR 10.04 x 7.68 inch.
Note:
In his Self-Portrait published in 1964, Man Ray tells how he made this image: he left the shutter of the camera open and went to dinner with Duchamp; on his return, the photo was made. As if Elevage de Poussière was an image made by itself, in its absence, without preparation, and its result just a happy discovery. This kind of story is Man Ray's trademark. To read him, all his masterpieces would be the result of chance. On the contrary, there are several levels of reading in this work that demonstrate the complexity of the thought that led to its realization. First published in Literature in 1922, the caption was: "Here is the domain of Rrose Selavy, how arid, how fertile, how joyful, how sad! View taken from an airplane by Man Ray." Élevage de poussière is a title given much later by Marcel Duchamp, when a reproduction is included in the Green Box; it is signed by both artists, Man Ray and Duchamp. While the first caption describes the land of an estate seen from the air (when it is in fact a simple reproduction of a work), the photograph represents a strange and poetic landscape, whose title, full of paradoxes, misleads the viewer while provoking his incomprehension. It is the very essence of photography, its evidential value, which is here questioned by the artist. Man Ray takes advantage of this characteristic to show something other than simple reality. For in the end, the "domain of Rrose Sélavy" is here his spirit: alternately "arid" and "fertile", "joyful" and "sad", such is the thinking reality of Marcel Duchamp. This image represents a real view of the mind - in the true sense of the word - of the one who questioned the very foundations of modern art by decreeing that it should no longer have the vocation of being simply beautiful. For Marcel Duchamp as for Man Ray, it is the idea that makes the work.
In his Self-Portrait published in 1964, Man Ray tells how he produced this image: he left the shutter of the camera open and went to dinner with Duchamp; on his return, the photo was completed. As if Elevage de Poussière was an image made on its own, in his absence, without preparation and the result just a happy surprise.
This kind of story is Man Ray's trademark. According to him, all of his masterpieces were the result of chance. On the contrary, there are several levels of interpretation in this work that demonstrate the complexity of the thinking that led to its creation. First published in Litterature in 1922, the caption read: "Here is the domain of Rrose Selavy, how arid, how fertile, how joyful, how sad! View taken from an airplane by Man Ray". Élevage de poussière is a title given much later by Marcel Duchamp, when a reproduction was included in the Green Box; it was signed by both artists, Man Ray and Duchamp. While the first caption describes the land of an estate seen from the air (when in fact it is a simple reproduction of a work), the photograph represents a strange and poetic landscape, whose title, full of paradoxes, misleads the viewer while provoking incomprehension. It is the very essence of photography, its evidential value, that is questioned here by the artist. Man Ray takes advantage of this characteristic to show something other than simple reality. For in the end, the "domain of Rrose Sélavy" is actually his spirit: alternately "arid" and "fertile", "joyful" and "sad", such is the reflective mentality of Marcel Duchamp. This image represents a true view of the mind - in the literal sense of the word - of the man who questioned the very foundations of modern art by decreeing that it should no longer serve only the purpose of being simply beauty. For Marcel Duchamp as for Man Ray, it was the idea that made the work.
Provenance:
Collection Edmonde et Lucien Treillard, Paris
Bibliography:
- Littérature, 1er oct.1922, n°5, p.11
- Cahiers d'Art, 1932, n°1-2, p.60
- Janus, Man Ray, Celiv, 1973/1990, n°109
- Merry Foresta, Perpetual Motif: the art of Man Ray, Washington, Gallimard, 1988, p.181
- Man Ray, photographic retrospective, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, 1996-1997, p.169
- Emmanuelle de l'Ecotais and Alain Sayag, Man Ray, Delpire, Paris, 2015, ill. p.14
"It was while photographing my paintings that I discovered the value they took on in black and white reproduction. The day came when I destroyed the painting and kept the print. Since then, I have never ceased to persuade myself that painting is an obsolete means of expression and that photography will dethrone it when visual education
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