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拍品专文
To be included in the catalogue of the paintings of Man Ray being prepared by Andrew Strauss and Timothy Baum.
Executed in 1929, Man Ray’s Telegram was created during a period of intense creativity for the artist, as he began to experiment with new techniques in his painting, inspired by the automatic practices of the surrealist poets and aimed at capturing the fleeting moment on canvas. The present work illustrates a mysterious message, whose subject remains indiscernible to the viewer, its letters disappearing into a series of dots and dashes reminiscent of the coded message used in telegraphic communication. The artist’s immortalisation of this telegraphic message suggests its contents held a profound meaning for Man Ray, one to be treasured and remembered in the act of painting. In this way, Telegram could be interpreted as a communication between Man Ray and his young studio assistant Lee Miller, with whom he had begun a passionate love affair earlier that year.
One of the most striking elements of the composition is the artist’s use of the revolutionary modern technique of paint-dripping, as streaks of orange pigment run upwards from the base of the canvas, in a series of dramatic bands. Their loose and non-uniform patterns reveal the improvised nature of their creation, as the artist sought a means of engaging with automatic processes in his application of pigment. These drips go against the painting’s visual orientation, disrupting our view of the telegram, and adding an unexplainable element to the painting. As Man Ray explained, ‘I was trying to destroy certain traditions, to leave the field clear again for a new approach to things’ (Man Ray quoted in A. Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, New York, 1977, p. 59).
Executed in 1929, Man Ray’s Telegram was created during a period of intense creativity for the artist, as he began to experiment with new techniques in his painting, inspired by the automatic practices of the surrealist poets and aimed at capturing the fleeting moment on canvas. The present work illustrates a mysterious message, whose subject remains indiscernible to the viewer, its letters disappearing into a series of dots and dashes reminiscent of the coded message used in telegraphic communication. The artist’s immortalisation of this telegraphic message suggests its contents held a profound meaning for Man Ray, one to be treasured and remembered in the act of painting. In this way, Telegram could be interpreted as a communication between Man Ray and his young studio assistant Lee Miller, with whom he had begun a passionate love affair earlier that year.
One of the most striking elements of the composition is the artist’s use of the revolutionary modern technique of paint-dripping, as streaks of orange pigment run upwards from the base of the canvas, in a series of dramatic bands. Their loose and non-uniform patterns reveal the improvised nature of their creation, as the artist sought a means of engaging with automatic processes in his application of pigment. These drips go against the painting’s visual orientation, disrupting our view of the telegram, and adding an unexplainable element to the painting. As Man Ray explained, ‘I was trying to destroy certain traditions, to leave the field clear again for a new approach to things’ (Man Ray quoted in A. Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, New York, 1977, p. 59).