Lot Essay
Man Ray painted the first version of Promenade in gouache in 1915, and did a version in oil in 1916. This subject and other works of this period marked a significant transformation in his style: "I changed my style completely, reducing human figures to flat-patterned, disarticulated forms." (Man Ray, in Self-Portrait, Boston, 1988, p. 52)
While living in Hollywood during World War II and in the years immediately following, the artist was concerned about pictures he had left behind in Paris and feared he might never see again. In addition to entirely new paintings and works based on notes he had made in Paris, Man Ray embarked upon a series of replicas, working from black-and-white photographs he had taken earlier and saved. In the case of the present work, he painted directly on the silver gelatin print.
While living in Hollywood during World War II and in the years immediately following, the artist was concerned about pictures he had left behind in Paris and feared he might never see again. In addition to entirely new paintings and works based on notes he had made in Paris, Man Ray embarked upon a series of replicas, working from black-and-white photographs he had taken earlier and saved. In the case of the present work, he painted directly on the silver gelatin print.