MAN RAY (1890-1976)

Lot 19
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25000 - 30000 EUR
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Result : 32 500EUR
MAN RAY (1890-1976)
Marcel Duchamp in Rrose Sélavy, New York City, 1921 Original gelatin-silver print 8.5 x 6 cm Marcel Duchamp in Rrose Sélavy, New York City, 1921 Original gelatin-silver print 3.35 x 2.37 in Note: It was because he felt the need to reproduce his own work for an exhibition at the Daniel Gallery in New York City in 1915 that Man Ray began in photography. Around the same time, he met Marcel Duchamp, through the wealthy collector Walter Arensberg. Marcel Duchamp was motivated by his desire to achieve "that painting of precision and that beauty of indifference" which led him to stop painting, while Man Ray, on the other hand, was trying to move his painting towards a flat realization (notably with airbrushes), probably motivated by his discovery of photography. Both sought to abandon classical pictorial techniques. They gradually became friends. It is with the help of Man Ray that Marcel Duchamp created the character of Rrose Sélavy. Cross-dressing as a woman, he poses in front of the photographer's lens, wearing make-up, a fur coat, a feathered hat or a cap as shown here. He thus creates a "eau de voilette" (neither pink nor violet...) heady perfume whose effigy is a woman with a provocative name: Eros is life... It is the very essence of photography, its evidentiary value, which is questioned here by Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. It was because he felt the need to reproduce his own work for an exhibition at the Daniel Gallery in New York in 1915 that Man Ray started in photography. Around the same time, he met Marcel Duchamp, through the wealthy collector Walter Arensberg. Marcel Duchamp was motivated by his desire to achieve "that painting of precision and that beauty of indifference" which led him to stop painting, while Man Ray, on the other hand, was trying to move his painting towards flat realization (notably with airbrushes), possibly motivated by his discovery of photography. Both sought to abandon classical pictorial techniques. They gradually became friends. It was with the help of Man Ray that Marcel Duchamp created the character of Rrose Sélavy. Cross-dressing as a woman, he posed in front of the photographer's lens, wearing make-up, a fur coat, a feathered hat or a cap as shown here. He created the "eau de voilette" (neither rose nor violet...) a heady perfume whose effigy was a woman with a provocative name: Eros is life... It is the very essence of photography, its evidential value, which is here questioned by Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. Provenance: Collection Edmonde et Lucien Treillard, Paris Bibliography: Man Ray, photographic retrospective, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, 1996-1997, p. 171 (this copy)
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