Man Ray

Byron Gallery, New York
Cordier & Ekstrom, New York
Andrew Crispo, New York (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 13, 1997, lot 320)
Acquired at the above sale 

New York, Daniel Gallery, Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by Man Ray, 1915, likely no. 18 (titled Landscape Interpretation)
New York, Penguin Club, Exhibition Contemporary Art, 1918, likely no. 16 (titled Landscape)
Pasadena, Art Institute, Retrospective Exhibition 1913-1944, Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors, Photographs by Man Ray, 1944, no. 6 or 7 
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Man Ray, 1966, no. 9, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Cordier & Ekstrom, Man Ray: A Selection of Paintings, 1970, n.n., illustrated in the catalogue
New York, New York Cultural Center, Man Ray, Inventor/Painter/Poet, 1974-75, no. 13
London, Institute of Contemporary Art, Man Ray, 1975, no. 11
New York, Andrew Crispo Gallery, Paris—New York, The Influence of Paris in New York and American Artists in the 20th Century, 1977, no. 30
New York, Andrew Crispo Gallery, The Influences of the 1913 Armory Show on American Painters, 1981 (possibly)
New York, Andrew Crispo Gallery, Masterpieces of The 20th Century: American & European Art, 1984, no. 24 (possibly)
Montclair, New Jersey, Montclair Art Museum; Athens, Georgia, Georgia Museum of Art & Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Conversion to Modernism: The Early Work of Man Ray, 2003-04, no. 92, illustrated in color in the catalogue
New York, The Jewish Museum, Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention, 2009-10, fig. 40, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Dr. John Weichel, "New Art and Man Ray" in East & West, Devoted to Jewish: Life—Literature—Art, New York, November 1915, illustrated p. 246 (titled Tree Interpretation)
Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, New York, 1977, no. 9, illustrated in color p. 21
Perpetual Motif, The Art of Man Ray (exhibition catalogue), Washington, D.C., 1988, illustrated in color p. 61

The canvas is unlined. The painting is in very good original condition. When examined under UV light, there is evidence of minor repainting to the upper right corner of the canvas. There is no other retouching apparent. The work presents very well and the colors are strong.
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.

In 1913, Man Ray moved from New York to an artist’s colony in Ridgefield, New Jersey, working alongside pioneering artists including Hartpence and Halpert. There he would spend the following two years devoted to painting, inspired by nature, and drawing upon the influences of European avant-garde art that impressed him at the Armory Show in New York in 1913. By the fall of 1914, Man Ray decided that he would no longer seek inspiration directly from nature but instead would paint “imaginary landscapes.” It was a crucial period for the artist in his formative years which paved the way to the first of many innovations which culminated in his iconic Dada and Surrealist approach.

The present painting, a view of the Ramapo Hills, dominated by a stylized tree, was painted upon the artist’s return to Ridgefield, based on scenery he had seen on a trip he had made with friends to Harriman State Park. Francis Naumann described the colors of this canvas as “so saturated and applied with such intensity that the individual landscape elements appear to glow from some inner source of an autumnal landscape, the pronounced artificiality of form simultaneously reveals the degree to which Man Ray had liberated himself from the motif” (Francis Naumann, in Perpetual Motif, p. 60). Here Man Ray draws upon both Cézanne and Cubism in depicting the tree, the palettes of van Gogh, the Fauves, Kandinsky and the Expressionists in painting the landscape. Importantly, the tree is an abstracted visual interpretation. The shape of the tree and even its color resembles a bolder or a rock set in a landscape. While Man Ray could not have intended this to be anything more than an imaginative interpretation of nature, the canvas does have the spirit of the avant-garde.