MAN RAY | 'Bras' (Arm)

titled and inscribed 'To Ummann' [?] in pencil, annotated 'Top' in red pencil, and with the photographer's '31bis, Rue Campagne Première, Paris-14e' (Manford M5) and reproduction limitation (Manford M14) stamps on the reverse, framed, circa 1933

The photographer to a family member Jedermann Collection

Private collection, 1989

Sotheby's New York, 16 October 2004, Sale 8018, Lot 125

Albert Mentzel and Albert Roux, Formes Nues (Paris: Editions d’Art Graphique et Photographique, 1935), cover   Maria Morris Hambourg and Christopher Phillips, The New Vision: Photography Between the World Wars, The Ford Motor Company Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1989), pl. 65

Christian Bouqueret, Des Années Folles, aux Années Noires: La Nouvelle Vision Photographique en France, 1920 – 1940 (Paris: Editions Marval, 1997), fig. 146, p. 148, for a reproduction of the cover illustration listed above

Guy Cogeval, Ulrich Pohlmann, and Xavier Rey, Masculin / Masculin: L'Homme nu dans l'Art de 1800 à nos Jours (Paris, 2013), no. 24

This photograph, on double-weight paper with a surface sheen, is in generally excellent condition. When examined in raking light, a 2-inch indentation is visible just at the inside of the subject's elbow. In high raking light, faint silvering is visible in the darkest areas of the print as are a few deposits of original retouching and fingerprints. There is some minor wear and light chipping of the emulsion on the print's edges, and a slight crease in the lower left corner. None of these issues detract in a significant way from the impressive appearance of this early print. '9 [circled]' is written next to the title in pencil and '3-C' is written in an unidentified hand in pencil on the reverse. There are several hinge remnants along the upper edge. When examined under ultraviolet light, this print does not appear to fluoresce.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

‘Were it not for the fact that photography permits me to seize and to possess the human body and face in more than a temporary manner, I should quickly have tired of this medium.’ – Man Ray (Formes Nues, 1935, introduction) Although more commonly associated with sensuous or abstracted depictions of the female body, Man Ray made several photographs of a male sitter in the early 1930s. While the athletic arm pictured here is disembodied, it is reminiscent of a photograph that Man Ray took of his preferred male model Nils in 1933,  a print of which exists in the Man Ray Archives at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (fig. 1). The sitter’s arm in Nu masculin bears striking resemblances to the work offered here – the arm is bent at the same angle, the shadows fall in the same places, and the musculature is almost undoubtedly that of the same man.

‘Bras’ (arm) was illustrated on the cover of Mentzel and Roux’s 1935 volume Formes Nues, a bilingual publication edited by the famous Editions d'Art Graphique et Photographique, which promoted contemporary European photographers. The photographers featured in Formes Nues, including Unital, André Kertész, and László Moholy-Nagy, were selected for their use of modern aesthetics in application to timeless themes, such as the nude. Man Ray’s surreal, incorporeal photograph of an arm, chosen for the cover, epitomized the exploration the publishers were seeking to highlight.  The influence of Surrealism on Man Ray is clearly evident in this cleverly cropped and completely decontextualized body part, which has been rendered nearly unrecognizable as an arm.

At the time of this writing, only one other print of this image has been located: in The Ford Motor Company Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.