Man Ray 1890-1976

Christie's East, 10 November 1981, Sale 0228, Lot 146

Acquired by Margaret W. Weston from the above

This photograph of Lee Miller, Man Ray's lover and muse, demonstrates Man Ray's ability to create an image that satisfied the requirements of a photographic genre - portraiture, in this case - while at the same time pushing it in new directions.   In this image, Man Ray has employed a radically unconventional lighting scheme in which the light source is set above and behind Miller, so that only the top of her head and shoulders are brightly lit; her face, rather than being illuminated, is cast in mid-tones.  Man Ray has moved the image even further away from traditional portraiture by solarizing the print - exposing it to light briefly - during its processing.  This technique, a favorite of Man Ray's, has caused the slight negative/positive reversal seen in Miller's blouse, and has flattened the print's tones overall, giving it a somewhat silvery tonality.  The subtle manipulations of photographic technique visible in this image illustrate the rigorous creativity that Man Ray continually brought to bear on his work.