

Man Ray painted this work only a few months after visiting the Armory Show, the international exhibition of modern art that took place in New York in 1913 while he was staying in Ridgefield in New Jersey, not far from Manhattan. At this time, Man Ray was part of an artistic community composed of painters and writers. This painting reflects the artistic styles which had particularly inspired Man Ray during his visit of the Armory Show, notably Cézanne’s late works and the cubist works of Picasso and Braque. His use of geometric, cubic forms in the composition is indicative of Man Ray’s first steps along the path of abstraction.