Man Ray

René Basset, Paris

The board is sound. There is some dirt accretion mostly in the thick areas of paint. Otherwise, this work is in very good original condition.
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signed 'Man Ray' and dated '60' lower right, dedicated 'à René Basset de Man Ray' on the reverse, acrylic on board. Painted in 1960.

Cette œuvre fait partie de la série Natural Paintings (Peintures Naturelles) peinte entre 1958 et 1965, que Man Ray développe alors qu'il est à la recherche d'une nouvelle technique spontanée : la peinture automatique. Il appose l'acrylique directement depuis son tube sur une surface préparée sur isorel, puis il place un deuxième isorel par dessus, s'assied sur l'ensemble et les sépare afin de découvrir la composition en relief résultant du mélange hasardeux des pigments. Dans son autobiographie, il explique ce nouveau procédé : "(...) je cherchais une nouvelle technique qui fut plus spontanée, comme les graines et les jeunes arbres que l'on plante en laissant à la nature le soin de faire le reste. Après avoir étalé mes couleurs selon l'impulsion du moment... j'avais une sorte de test de Rorschach. Les résulats étaient surprenants : certain détails n'auraient pu s'obtenir que par un long et minutieux travail manuel. L'ensemble de ces toiles fut intitulé : Peintures Naturelles" (Man Ray, Autoportrait, Paris, 1964, p. 343) .

Painted between 1958 and 1965, this work is part of the Natural Paintings series that Man Ray developed while searching for a new spontaneous technique : automatic painting.  He used acrylic directly from its tube onto the prepared hardboard surface, then placed a second hardboard on top, sat on them both and then separated them to view the composition in relief resulting from the random mixing of pigments.  Man Ray explained this new procedure in his autobiography: "(...) I was looking for a new technique that was more spontaneous, like seeds and saplings that we plant and then leave nature to take care of the rest.  After spreading my colours out according to my momentary impulse ... I had a sort of Rorschach test.  The results were surprising: certain details could not have been obtained through a long, meticulous manual process.  This group of canvases was entitled: Natural Paintings" (Man Ray, Autoportrait, Paris, 1964, p. 343) .