Man Ray and Paul Éluard | Presentation copy of Facile, with 5 original photographs

Man Ray and Paul Éluard

Facile. Poemes de Paul Éluard, Photographies de Man Ray. Paris: Editions G.L.M., 24 October 1935

4to (200 x 180 mm). Signed "Man Ray" to half title, 12 black and white heliogravure photographs, 5 original photographs signed "Man Ray" and dated "1939" in pencil, 3 photographs of Nusch Eluard marked "E.A" to verso. Publisher's original glossy pictorial wrappers, with plexiglass boards by Mercher dated 1970 in gilt at lower pastedown, smooth spine with vertical title in silver, black rear endpapers; spine lightly scuffed, primarily to head of spine, wear to edges. Black slipcase. [With:] Original four-page prospectus for Editions G.L.M (250 x 185 mm).

One of the most influential photography books of the twentieth century—with poems authored by the artist's longtime friend and presented to his new collaborator.

The present copy marks two of Man Ray's significant artistic collaborations and friendships. The poetry of Paul Éluard, longtime friend and fellow founding Surrealist, accompanies 12 heliogravure photographs, all signed by Man Ray. It was through Man Ray and Pablo Picasso that Éluard would meet his wife, Nusch, whose nude figure frames the text in various positions.

Numbered 388 of 1,225 copies, signed and inscribed to: "à Serge Béguier / bien amicalement - / Man Ray"

After a falling out with Pierre Grassman in the late 1960s, Man Ray began his work with Béguier at the PhotoBac Lab—ushering in a stylistic change in Man Ray's oeuvre with Béguier's use of Agfa paper, in contrast to Grassman's Ilford paper, or gelatin silver prints of Man Ray's earlier works.

Facile is inscribed to his printer towards the beginning of their artistic association. The photographs were likely printed by Béguier in 1967–70 and backdated to the date of Man Ray's negatives, as per the artist's norm. The present lot with the original four-page prospectus printed in black in 1935 for Editions G.L.M.

REFERENCES

Andel, Avant-Garde Page Design, 339; BnF, Des livres rares 194; Castelman, A Century of Artists Books, 137; Coron, De Goya à Max Ernst, 48; G.L.M., 73. De L'Ecotais, Man Ray: Photography and Its Double; Getty, In Focus, Man Ray: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum; Hubert, Surrealism and the Book, 73-83; Krauss and Livingston, L'Amour Fou: Photography and Surrealism; Mélusine, 163-77; Naudet, "The Man Ray Affair," American Photo, July-Aug 1998, 48-52, 92-95; Parr and Badger, The Photobook: A History, Vol. 1, 104-05; Peyré, Peinture et Poésie, p.124; Picaud, Des livres rares depuis l'invention de l'imprimerie, 1941; Roth, 101 Books, 86-87; Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination; Sinibaldi and Courtier, Regards sur un siècle de photographie à travers le livre, 48; Skira, Man Ray. Album Eluard, 173; The Open Book, 118-9; Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray, 22

PROVENANCE

Serge Béguier