Man Ray

(Paris: [Man Ray], 1922, an edition of 40 numbered copies), a volume containing 12 tipped-in photographs of rayographs by Man Ray, with a printed 3-page preface by Tristan Tzara and colophon signed and numbered '12' by the photographer in ink.  Folio, original blue-gray wrappers with yellow printed label,  no. 12 from a total edition of 40

Kenneth Macpherson

To his legatee

Acquired by the present owner from the above

The gelatin silver prints of Rayographs in this volume are in generally very good condition. Visible on each print to varying degrees is age-appropriate silvering in the dark areas and at the periphery. On the gyroscope image, there is very slight, warm discoloration at the left, lower, and right edges. The same is true for the upper edge of the image that has the trailing spiral composition. The folio leaves on which the prints are mounted are lightly soiled and age-darkened at the edges. The reverse of each folio leaf (mount) has some age-darkening where they have contact with the prints on the following pages. The original blue paper folio is in poor condition. It is faded and somewhat soiled, split at the spine, and with losses at the edges. The age-darkened front matter is in good condition.
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.

Man Ray's Champs Délicieux is the photographer's defining statement of his early work with the photogram, or Rayograph, as he named his new creations.  The photogram, one of the first forms of photography, had been used successfully by a number of nineteenth-century practitioners of the medium, among them William Henry Fox Talbot, Sir John Herschel, and Anna Atkins.  Man Ray took this essentially flat and two-dimensional exercise and gave it movement, wit, and style, creating works that Jean Cocteau termed 'phantasmagorical.'  Not satisfied with the simple outline of objects on paper, Man Ray devised, through the use of transparent and semi-transparent objects, and through skillful shifting of the objects during exposure, the illusion of depth and time.  This three-dimensionality, this 'bouquet of vertigo,' as another critic called it, gave the works mystery and surprise.  The Rayographs were acclaimed by the Dadaists, who loved the chance quality involved in the pictures' production, as well as their complete lack of message or meaningful content.  The title Champs Délicieux was inspired by the title of a volume of automatic writing by André Breton and Philippe Soupault, Les Champs Magnétiques.

Champs Délicieux was issued in an edition of 40 numbered copies, in paper wrappers of various colors, including bright orange, tan, and the blue-gray offered here.  The volume comprises 12 gelatin silver prints of Rayographs, printed by Man Ray from negatives made by re-photographing the 12 unique original images.  An unnumbered 41st copy was produced using prints made from the cancelled negatives.  Each set of plates was tipped to large paper mounts which were then hand-sewn into wrappers using ordinary twine, and signed and numbered by Man Ray in ink on the colophon.  Tristan Tzara, who had been among the first to see Man Ray's Rayograph experiments, contributed the preface, 'La Photographie a l'Envers.'

The copy of Champs Délicieux offered here comes originally from the library of Kenneth Macpherson (1903 - 1971), who edited an important early film journal, Close Up, and was intimately connected to several artists and writers in the Man Ray circle.  He was romantically involved with the poet H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), and later married H. D.'s lover, the writer Winnifred Ellerman, known as Bryher.  Bryher's first husband had been Robert McAlmon; when Man Ray's young studio assistant, Berenice Abbott, decided to open her own portrait studio, it was McAlmon who loaned her some of the money to make her own start.  In The Heart to Artemis: A Writer's Memoirs, Bryher notes that it was McAlmon who introduced her to Man Ray.  Man Ray photographed all of them: Macpherson, H. D., Bryher, and McAlmon, among many others.

The avant-garde and experimental nature of Champs Délicieux would have appealed to Bryher and Macpherson, who were at the forefront of the new and progressive medium of cinema, as was Man Ray himself.  Their journal Close Up, which was published from 1927 to 1933, printed contributions by Gertrude Stein, Man Ray, Sergei Eisenstein, John Grierson, and Vsevolod Pudovkin, among many others.  Their film company, POOL productions, made four experimental films, Wing Beat (1927), Foothills (1928), Monkey's Moon (1929), and Borderline (1930), with Paul Robeson.  This last film is the only one to have survived intact.