Man Ray

Acquired from the artist circa 1971

New York, Valentine Gallery, Drawings by Man Ray, 1936, no. 34
Paris, Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Les Dessins de Man Ray, 1937, n.n.
London, The London Gallery, Man Ray, Surrealist Paintings, Drawings, Objects, 1939, one of nos. 36-95
Princeton, University Art Museum, Man Ray, Drawings, Watercolors, Rayograms, Chess Sets, Books, Objects, 1963, n.n., (no. 13 of the Mains Libres drawings)
Washington, D.C., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution & travelling, Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray, 1988-90, no. 196 
Nice, Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain, Man Ray, Rétrospective 1912-1976, 1997, n.n., illustrated p. 126

Paul Éluard, Les Mains Libres, dessins illustrés par les poèmes de Paul Éluard, Paris, 1937, illustrated p. 69
Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray, The Rigour of Imagination, London, 1977, fig. 77, illustrated p. 89

This work is in good condition. Executed on white wove paper, not laid down. The sheet is hinged to the over-mount at two points on the verso of the upper edge. The sheet is lightly time-darkened and the verso shows evidence of a previous acidic mount. Remnants of old framers tape on verso. A few faint spots of foxing visible towards the upper left and lower right edges, otherwise fine.
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In this enigmatic composition, Man Ray juxtaposes elements of contrasting scale to create a disquieting dialogue. On the left the body of a woman seems to emerge from her voluminous skirts, concealing her face behind her long hair and clasping her hands in a gesture of apparent supplication. On the right a monumental hand looms in the shadows, bearing a small sphere. This drawing was executed in late 1936 when Man Ray had crossed the Atlantic to attend exhibitions of his work; in this context, the title would seem to signify the modern American sense of the term "burlesque." Originally a comic theatrical genre, taking its name from the Italian burla (a joke or mockery), in the course of the twentieth century burlesque shows moved from bawdy satire and musical numbers to an increased focus on female striptease. The statuesque pose of the woman in this work, and the drapery that obscures her lower body, also evoke the Venus de Milo, an enduring theme in Man Ray’s oeuvre that featured in many of his Surrealist photographs in the 1930s. However Paul Éluard’s poem interpreted this burlesque maiden not as the goddess of love rising from the sea but rather as an ice-queen, frozen as an eternal muse inspiring artistic confidence:

Fille de glace donne-moi
Confiance en moi

- Paul Éluard