曼·雷

André Breton, Paris

Sale: Calmels Cohen, Paris, André Breton, 42 rue Fontaine, 15th April 2003, lot 5027

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Passage de Retz, Surexposition: Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia, Sexe, Humour et Flamenco, 2008, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

New York, Sotheby’s, Divine Comedy, 2010, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Variétés: Le Surréalisme en 1929, Brussels, 1st June 1929, numéro hors série, illustrated opposite p. 54 (titled Chez les poètes Sadoul et Thiron)

Man Ray, Vlastní Portrét, Prague, 1968, illustrated

André Thirion, Révolutionnaires sans Révolution, Paris, 1972, uncropped version illustrated pp. 128-129

Gérard Durozoi, Histoire du mouvement Surréaliste, Paris, 1997, uncropped version illustrated p. 174

 

Inspired by the bathroom in the apartment of writers and Surrealist members Georges Sadoul and André Thiron, Décoration is a wonderfully subversive work that reveals Man Ray’s dexterity as both photographer and graphic artist. The toilet at Sadoul and Thiron’s apartment, 54 rue du Chateau, Paris was intended to be a private yet highly provocative and humorous statement. Decorated by Louis Aragon – who had also lived there – in 1928, it was deliberately sacrilegious, with a statement pinned to the wall above it that demanded: SILENCE par respect pour le Très Saint Sacrement continuellement exposé. In the spirit of Dada installations incorporating words and slogans amongst works of art, Aragon re-appropriates the religious crucifix (reportedly stolen from a church by André Thiron) as a handle on the toilet chain and alters the word Renaissance to Reconnaissance c. 1919, likely referring to the date when Dada in Paris began to flourish. It seems probable that the arrangement also deliberately alludes to Duchamp’s infamous Readymade Fountain of 1917.

Typical of his progressive and imaginative approach, Man Ray photographed this mis-en-scène as a work of art, understanding it as a piece of installation art well in advance of the contemporary art installations that would only appear decades later. In this unique, hand-coloured print of the photograph, Man Ray augments his original image, employing the skills which he had mastered when working as a graphic artist at the McGraw Book Company, New York designing maps and atlases (1915-21). 

This print and its uncropped version were used to illustrate the script of a play written in 1928 by Louis Aragon and André Breton titled Le Trésor des Jésuites. No other black-and-white prints of this photograph have come to light other than the uncropped version. The present print was owned by André Breton and remained in his collection until his death.