Man Ray

Galleria Schwarz, Milan (acquired from the artist in 1970)

Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1980

New York, Valentine Gallery, Drawings by Man Ray, 1936, no. 23

Paris, Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Man Ray Dessins, 1937

London, The London Gallery, Man Ray, 1939, one of nos. 36-95

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Man Ray, 1966, one of nos. 207-221

Milan, Galleria Schwarz, Man Ray: 60 anni di libertà, 1971, no. 71, illustrated in the catalogue

Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen & Paris, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Man Ray, 1971-72, no. 97, illustrated in the catalogue

Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum, Man Ray, 1972, no. 92, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, An Exhibition, Retrospective and Prospective of the Works of Man Ray, 1975, no. 79

New York, The New York Cultural Center, Man Ray, Inventor/Painter/Poet, 1974-75, no. 90

Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Man Ray, l'occhio e il suo doppio, dipinti, collages, disegni, invenzioni fotografiche, ogetti d'affezione, libri, cinema, 1975, no. 117, illustrated in the catalogue

Milan, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Man Ray, Carte Varie e Variabili, 1983-84, no. 50, illustrated in the catalogue

Nice, Musée d’art moderne et d’art contemporain, Man Ray, 1997, illustrated in the catalogue

Paul Eluard, Les Mains Libres, dessins illustrés par les poèmes de Paul Eluard, Paris: J. Bucher, 1937, illustrated p. 138

Janus, Man Ray, Milan, 1973, illustrated fig. 180

Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray, The Rigour of Imagination, London, 1977, no. 93, illustrated p. 91

Executed on white wove paper, not laid down and attached to the mount at the reverse of all four corners. This work is in very good original condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the ink is slightly stronger in the original.
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By the mid-1930s, Man Ray abandoned commercial photography, dominated by fashion and commissioned portraits, and returned to fine art; creating many of his greatest Surrealist paintings and drawings to date. In Paris, New York and the South of France in 1936-37, the artist completed a series of drawings, sixty-five of which, including the present work, were published in Les Mains Libres in 1937. True to Surrealist fashion, the collaborative publication was conceived as a dream journal reproducing Man Ray’s drawings which were in turn ‘illustrated’ by poems by Paul Eluard, inspired by the drawings. Man Ray declared the importance of this series of drawings to New York art critic Henry McBride: ‘In these drawings, my hands are dreaming…they are the sum of all of my experience, in photography as well as in painting’.

In Le Château d’If, Man Ray depicts the Count of Monte Cristo in a groomed aristocratic pose, adjusting his bow tie. This image was inspired by a trip to photograph the Chateau d’If, which he later recalled in an interview: ‘Oh yes, I was in the South [of France] one summer, someone had suggested that I visit an old chateau nearby, which I did. It was nice and when I got back to the hotel my laundry had arrived, and there was a picture of this man on the laundry wrapping’ (Ron Padgett, ‘Artist Accompanies Himself with his Rays’, in Art News, November 1966, pp. 79-80). On 14th July 1936, Man Ray travelled to Marseille with Paul Eluard and it is likely the two friends visited the fortress Château d’If together. It was from this fortress, perched on a rock in the Bay of Marseille and that featured in the popular tale Count of Monte Cristo written by Alexandre Dumas in 1844, that the wrongly imprisoned fictional character Edmond Dantès escaped. One of Man Ray’s trademarks was to create imaginary portraits of individuals, real, fictional or legendary and particularly when no contemporary portrait existed, such as Adam and Eve, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Arcimboldo and the Marquis de Sade. This afforded him the liberty to depict his ‘sitter’ in any way he wished, often embellishing the portrait and composition with clues as to his or her identity. 

 

LE CHATEAU D’IF

Belle voix grande maison

Aux échos décorés

De toiles d’arraignée.

Paul Eluard, 1936-37