Man Ray

Acquis vers 1974 par le propriétaire actuel

Londres, Serpentine Gallery, Man Ray, 1995
Nice, Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Man Ray 1912-1976, Rétrospective, 1997

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down. The sheet is taped to the overmount along the four edges. There is an artist's pinhole in the centre of the upper edge. There are also some light time staining and some slight discolouration of the sheet along the edges. Other than two very minor spots of foxing in the centre of the left edge, this work is in very good condition.
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dated '11/12-40', titled 'masque pour une tête', signed 'Man Ray' and dated '40' (lower right), ink and pencil on paper. Executed in 1940.

Les masques et le jeu sur les identités réversibles comptent parmi les principaux thèmes qui parcourent toute l'oeuvre de Man Ray à travers les différents supports explorés par l'artiste. Man Ray dessine cette fois un masque montrant le visage de deux femmes s'embrassant. Leurs lèvres évoque évidemment la légendaire tableau de Man Ray A l'œuvre de l'observatoire – les amoureux  (1932-1934) mais plus directement le baiser d'un couple de femmes sur une photographie de Man Ray prise en 1930, image que Man Ray reprendra pour le tableau L'Image à deux-faces (1959).

Whilst masks and hidden-identity are some of the principal recurring themes throughout Man Ray's work in all media, the present work draws upon the concept of a mask that gives the observer an illusion of two women kissing, their lips recalling not only Man Ray's legendary painting A l'heure de l'observatoire – les amoureux (1932-34) depicting monumental lips floating in the sky, but more importantly to the artist's photograph of 1930 of two women kissing and which later was developed into a painting L'Image à deux-faces (1959). Masque pour une tete cleverly reverses the roles – instead of the mask hiding a person's identity, here Man Ray creates a new face by means of mask-like features.