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Literature: de l'Ecotais, Man Ray: Rayographies, Editions Léo Scheer, 2002, p.258, cat.227, for the published photogravure (pl.1: Electricité) in Electricité.
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Notes: NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN GROUP OF MAN RAY RAYOGRAPHS FROM THE ELECTRICITE PROJECT
'Ces jeux de la lumière sur un objet, saisis sans hypocrisie, et dirigés comme doivent être les forces naturelles, voilà ce que Man Ray nous propose, pour évoquer, non imiter, ces forces, ces mouvements, ces secrets du monde électrique. Donnez-nous, lui dit-on, une image de l'invisible.' -- Pierre Bost 1
In partnering with industry in the thirties, Man Ray was at a creative peak, advancing the methods and effects of avant-garde photography to catch the eye of the sophisticated consumer. No art director, editor, fashion house, or advertiser of the period failed to take note of Man Ray. Published in countless magazines around the world, he was recruited away from Vogue to Harper's Bazaar by the legendary Alexey Brodovitch. Above all, Man Ray's photography embraced the art director's dictum to 'be alert for new visions and techniques.' 2
In over a decade of work Man Ray had brought life to old processes. He developed a more radical approach to making photograms, naming his camera-less inventions Rayographs. His transformation of the Sabatier effect had by 1930 radically redefined the look of the portrait. In response to various assignments Man Ray made collages, reversal prints, optical distortions, screened prints, and the still little-known colour photographs. There was little that Man Ray did not explore with enthusiasm.
Man Ray's great commitment to his Rayographs was that they never stayed the same -- they evolved and changed. In 1922 when he bagan making Rayographs, they were photograms (camera-less images made by placing objects directly on the photographic paper and exposing them to light) enhanced by intentionally changing the compositon and lighting during the exposure to create abstract effects. By 1930 when he made the Electricité series, the Rayograph had further evolved to encompass camera-based images whereby a negative was projected onto paper with the aid of an enlarger. Despite the various photographic approaches involved in creating his Rayographs, there is a consistency in their visual effect -- the phantom silhouettes floating in impossible to define planes. Only Man Ray could make Rayographs as that was the name he gave to his own creations and he took great pleasure in the mystery and curiosity surrounding his methods.
One of his most innovative commercial endeavours was Electricité, a commission undertaken for la Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution d'Electricité (CPDE). His effort and attention in the commission was considerable although Man Ray conveyed the impression that it was effortless. In one recollection he claimed to have made everything in the darkroom in 'four or five hours'. 3 And yet Lee Miller, his assistant-lover-muse, remembers them photographing around Paris for the project. It took days to craft this bold suite in his darkroom with Man Ray drawing upon an odd assortment of props, and a large array of negatives, including what was surely an appropriated image of the moon ('Le Monde', pl.4).
Each of the seven works in this sale (lots 11-17) is a Rayograph, and all ten of the portfolio plates were also made from Rayographs. Though it is worth noting that in both cases, about half of the works are not the earlier camera-less Rayographs but involve the use of a negative. In the portfolio, 'La Ville' (pl.6), an evocation of Paris after dark, is constructed as a multiple-exposure image. In most instances the electrical element is a photogram: heating coil, light switch, light bulb, iron, fan, and toaster. Early on in his making of Rayographs, Man Ray had on occasion used negatives -- broken glass-plate negatives and sections of films -- as photogram elements in his compositions.
With Electricité Man Ray begins to use negatives not as props but to make positive images for his Rayograph compositions. In mixing processes, he allows the conventional vision of camera and lens optics to compete with the abstract. The Rayograph was the perfect choice, the photogram and electricity being likeminded characters. Electricity itself is something invisible -- we only see those objects which use it. Likewise the elusive photogram leaves only a trace of objects.
By 1930, the commission was largely completed. Reproductions appear in early 1931. The Julien Levy Gallery in New York exhibited the set in 1932, purchasing at least two portfolios for 6 dollars each. The following spring, the portfolio was included in 'International Photographers', an exhibition held at the Brooklyn Museum. Art Weekly, reviewing the show, noted the works, commenting: 'Man Ray has superb ideas of more or less abstracted electricity.' 4 While made as a promotion for CPDE it was also, in the words of Lee Miller, for 'their art-minded customers.' 5 As works of art for Man Ray, the portfolio would continue to appear in various exhibitions.
Man Ray was eager to adapt his talents for advertising, no doubt appreciative of the creative collaboration, the visual challenge and the financial compensation. Shortly before undertaking the Electricité assignment he noted in a letter: 'I think I shall gradually work into advertising as interest is developing for my work in that line.' 6 In the thirties, as the dynamism of photographs displaced illustrations in magazines and ads, Man Ray mediated the integrity of the artist and the needs of commerce. The perceived opposites were, in Man Ray's opinion, the pursuit of a common goal. In a letter to a friend Man Ray concluded:
'Love to do portraits of smart women, beautiful women, babies when I must, men very difficult to please, publicity photos when allowed to use my ideas; all the same button-pushing process, bringing things into the light.' 7
Steven Manford, Man Ray Research Scholar
1 Introduction, Electricité, CPDE, 1931, n.p.
2 Quoted in Snow & Aswell, The World of Carmel Snow, 1962.
3 From an interview with Arnold Crane, quoted with his permission, in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
4 'Photography', Arts Weekly, 18 March 1932.
5 Quoted in Amaya, 'My Man Ray: An Interview with Lee Miller Penrose', Art in America, May-June 1975, p.57.
6 Letter to Elsie Siegler [Man Ray's sister], n.d.[c.1930].
7 Letter to Julien Levy, 7 March 1932.
In an October 1968 interview, Man Ray recalled the inception of the Electricité project:
....And then the director showed me big photographs of all these. I said, 'Well, you've got everything. I can't do better than these photographs? They were wonderful technical photographs of the interior of powerhouses and all that. So I went away. Then he telephoned me a couple of times. I said, 'Well, I haven't any ideas yet. I can't....' So I was pushed into it by Lee Miller. She was my pupil. She said, 'You must do this. I will help you with it.' So one day I picked up a lot of electric wire, a couple of lamp shades, an iron, a toaster; I went into a darkroom and I didn't come out for four or five hours and I made twelve Rayographs. 1
At the time of this commission, French electricity companies were battling against a tense economic climate: 'Customers, however, were not convinced of electricity's advantages and were reluctant to pay steep prices, causing domestic demand for electricity to stagnate. When the Depression began in France in 1929, industrial demand was no longer stable, increasing the disparity between supply and demand.' 2 The CPDE responded to this crisis with a bold marketing strategy -- hire the cutting-edge American artist Man Ray to create a series of images to promote the domestic consumption of electricity. The resulting portfolio Electricité, which included ten photogravures of Rayographs by Man Ray and a 6-page printed introductory text by Pierre Bost, was published in 1931 in an edition of 500 for distribution to special clients: '...it was a present from the company to their art-minded customers.' 3
All the photogravure plates, measuring approximately 26 x 20 cm, are mounted and individually housed in translucent lettered wrappers. The original packaging, which comprised a printed patterned folio with flaps in a translucent paper dust jacket, was also designed by Man Ray. The majority of the images, with such titles as 'Salle à Manger' (pl.5) and 'Cuisine' (pl.8), depict electrical appliances and relate to the domestic use of electricity; others titled 'Le Monde' (pl.4) or simply 'Electricité' (pls. 1 & 3) transcend the home and evoke the infinite power of electricity. While undertaken as a promotional campaign for the CPDE, the Electricité project led Man Ray to further push the boundaries of the Rayograph and bridge the gap between camera-based and camera-less photography.
1 From an interview with Arnold Crane, quoted with his permission, in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. While Man Ray remembers having made twelve Rayographs, only ten plates were included in the portfolio.
2 Jandl, 'Man Ray's Electricité', Gastronomica, Winter 2002, p.15.
3 Lee Miller, quoted in Amaya, 'My Man Ray: An Interview with Lee Miller Penrose', Art in America, May-June 1975, p.57.
MAN RAY'S ELECTRICITE RAYOGRAPHS
This and the following six Rayographs (lots 11-17) were discovered by chance in the attic of a house in south-west France in the summer of 1997.
The present owners purchased the house at the end of 1994 from the niece of the previous owner, who was remembered by a neighbour as having worked for la Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution d'Electricité (CPDE), the Paris electricity company that commissioned Man Ray for the Electricité project. It is likely that these seven Rayographs had been stored away in the same attic for over 35 years before they were discovered, safely contained in a brown leather folio under a thick layer of dust. For nearly another decade they would remain unknown to the world at large.
This never-before-seen group comprises the present lot, the original Rayograph for plate one in the Electricité portfolio, and other experimental variants of the published images. After nearly 80 years of obscurity, this is the first opportunity for scholars and collectors alike to not only see and appreciate but also acquire these unique photographs.
Each of the seven Rayographs measures approximately 29 x 23 cm and all but one (lot 13) are tipped/mounted to van Gelder Zonen papers, measuring approximately 51 x 33 cm each. On two of the prints (lots 11 & 17), tracing paper overlay is attached along top edge of mount verso and folded over the front; the overlay on lot 17 (Hand with switch) shows Man Ray's pencil manuscript annotation 'L'ELECTRICITÉ FAIT TOUT'.
1 Man Ray had signed 'Man' first in grey gouache and perhaps decided that it was not sufficiently distinct so over-painted it in white. He then completed the signature by writing 'Ray' in white only.
This captivating and mysterious image is the original Rayograph after which plate one in the Electricité portfolio was made (fig.1). Here, Man Ray has endowed the ordinary light bulb with cosmic energy. Like an enigmatic man-made satellite, the solitary light bulb floats in the speckled Milky Way. He used the readily available light bulb in two of his Rayographs (lots 11 & 13) and in both cases, the diameter of the cylinder that fits into the socket measures 22 mm, suggesting a conventional bulb size. Man Ray aptly selected this image for the first plate as it was the light emitted from a light bulb which enabled him to create in his darkroom this visually vibrant series.
This work will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the Rayographs being prepared by Man Ray Research Scholar Steven Manford. Christie's Photographs Department thanks him for his expertise and insights regarding this and the following six lots.
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
