MAN RAY (1890–1976)
MAN RAY (1890–1976)
MAN RAY (1890–1976)
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MAN RAY (1890–1976)
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THE SURREALIST WORLD OF ROSALIND GERSTEN JACOBS AND MELVIN JACOBS
MAN RAY (1890–1976)

Demain, 1932

Details
MAN RAY (1890–1976)
Demain, 1932
signed and dated in pencil 'Man Ray 1932' (lower right on the mount)
gelatin silver print, mounted on card, printed 1950s
image/sheet: 6 1⁄8 x 3 1⁄4 in. (15.4 x 8.2 cm.)
mount: 12 1⁄4 x 9 in. (31.1 x 22.8 cm.)
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by the late owners, circa 1960.
Literature
Miami, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sweet Dreams and Nightmares: Dada and Surrealism from the Rosalind and Melvin Jacobs Collection, March-May 2000, no. 15 (illustrated).
Man Ray, exh. cat., Museo d'Arte della Città di Lugano, 2011, pp. 135-136, pls. 119 and 122.

Lot Essay

Man Ray’s Demain is a clever “clin d'oeil,” a knowing wink at art history and at certain key artistic tendencies of the day. The exaggerated silhouette achieved through his intricately constructed multiple exposure technique evokes Cycladic fertility symbols. It also calls to mind the stylized nudes of Amedeo Modigliani that make reference to these and other ancient sculptural interpretations of the female body. The raised arms echo certain of Modigliani's recumbent nudes, which have a powerful precursor in Goya's notorious The Nude Maja of 1797-1800. The sharply angled upturned arms of Man Ray's nude, elbows pointing vertically, assertively displaying her body, match those of the central figure in Pablo Picasso's Les demoiselles d'Avignon of 1907, the pivotal painting that dramatically initiated Cubism. The original glass negative for this frontal pose is in the collection of the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou (ref. AM 1995-201 [277]).

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