Man Ray (American, 1890-1976) Le Violon d'Ingres, 1924 Pink toned gelatin silver print, printed after 1968 from a copy negative 13-1/4 x 10-1/2 inches (33.7 x 26.7 cm) (image) 14 x 11 inches (sheet) Signed and dated in the negative. PROVENANCE: The artist; Hal Gould, acquired from the above. LITERATURE: M. Foresta, Perpetual Motif: The The Art of Man Ray, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1989, p. 317; R. Van de Velde, Man Ray: 1890-1976, Harry N. Abrams, 1994, pl. 48; Man Ray, Photographs, Paintings, Objects, Schirmer Mosel, Munich, 1997, np.; E de L'Ecotais, K. Ware and M. Heiting, Man Ray, Taschen, Cologne, 2004. Hal Gould wrote in 2004, "After having this image in a group show from the Royal Photographic Society at Camera Obscura Gallery. c. 1968, I called Man Ray and ordered a print. No reply. Years later, this print came in the mail, no invoice, no letter, nothing with it." Inspired by 19th century French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' nude La Grande Baigneuse, Man Ray photographed Kiki de Montparnasse, wearing a turban, in a similar pose. However, his addition of violin f-holes onto the surface of the print, which he then rephotographed, altered what had been a classical nude into something much edgier. He titled the work Le Violon d'Ingres, a French idiom meaning "hobby" -- a visual pun that refers to both Ingres' well-known love of the violin and his own affair with Kiki. HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved