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LE VIOLON D'INGRES, 1924, PRINTED 1970

400 by 300mm

Silver Copy Print, signed in ink in the image lower right, editioned '7/8' in ink in the image lower left, signed and dated '1924' in the original image, this print inscribed 'Epreuve Originale/Man Ray/Paris 1970' by the photographer in ink on the reverse, also annotated '50' and '1' [encircled] in pencil on the reverse, framed and glazed, the Galleria Marescalchi label on the reverse of frame,

PROVENANCE

Acquired by the present owner from the Galleria Marescalchi, Bologna, in 1976.

EXHIBITED

Man Ray, Galleria Marescalchi, Bologna, 15 May-15 June 1976.

LITERATURE

First published in Littérature, no. 13, June 1924.
Penrose, R., 1975, p. 93, no. 47.
Galleria Marescalchi, 1976, cat. no. 13 (this print).
Schwarz, A., 1977, no. 415.
La Biennale di Venezia, 1977, pl. 42 (this print; most likely rephotographed from one of the above texts).
Musée National d'Art Moderne, 1981, p. 17, no. 4.
Jaguer, E., 1982, cover.
Baldwin, 1988, p. 104.
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1988, fig. 262.
The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, et alii, 1990, p. 135,
no. 271.
Librairie Arcade, 1990, no. 43.
Van de Velde, R., 1994, no. 48.
Serpentine Gallery, 1995, cover.
Sayag, A. & de l'Ecotais, E., (eds.) 1998, p. 137.
Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, 1998, p. 84.
Man Ray, 1998 (1963), p. 118 and back cover.

NOTE

This is one of Man Ray's most celebrated images. The title is a pun on the expression 'violon d'Ingres' which derives from Ingres' enthusiasm for the violin - and his insistence on playing it (badly) to guests who had come to see his paintings. In homage to one of his icons, Man Ray has transformed Alice Prin (better known as Kiki de Montparnasse), his muse and lover, into an Ingres-like odalisque and, through a simple graphic device, further transformed her into a violin. In this way Man Ray manages to simultaneously claim the female form and the practice of photography as his own violon d'Ingres.

There are two recorded vintage prints of this image - each with the f-holes hand-painted by Man Ray on the surface of the print. One was acquired by André Breton and is now in the collection of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. The other, which has not been traced, was re-photographed by Man Ray. All subsequent printings of Le Violon d'Ingres appear to have been made from the copy negative (it is believed that the original glass negative was broken).

In around 1970-1, Man Ray printed an edition of eight prints from the copy negative. There were, in addition, three artist's proofs, one of which was the artist's own copy (sold in these rooms 22nd March 1995, lot 23). This print is no. 7 from the edition of 8.