Lot 109 : MAN RAY (1890-1976)
Auction Location: United States of America - 2002
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Description:
Calla Lilies Solarized gelatin silver print. 1931. Signed in ink on the recto; dated and annotated in pencil on the verso. 111/4 x 9in. (28.5 x 22.8cm.) Framed. PROVENANCE Collection of Andy Warhol, Sotheby's, New York, 29 April 1988, lot 2930. LITERATURE See: Dover, Photographs by Man Ray: 105 Works, 1920-1934, p. 21; Janus, Man Ray, pl. 107; Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, p. 266, pl. 441. NOTES Calla Lilies, 1930 was included in Man Ray's 1934 publication with James Thrall Soby, Photographs by Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934. The book included 105 works which ranged from portraits, Rayographs, nudes and many solarizations, along with brief texts by Man Ray, Paul Eluard, Andr‚ Breton, Tristan Tzara and Marcel Duchamp, and was intended as an inventory as well as a promotional device for his work to the American audience. Man Ray "rediscovered" the solarization technique or Sabattier effect, much as he had the photogram or Rayograph and quickly took it on as an important device. Like the Rayograph it was another means to paint with light and he became fascinated by its effects and experimented with it on many of his most important subjects. He happened upon it accidentally in 1928 while working in the darkroom with Lee Miller. As he stated: "'The technique in itself was not important to me, I was interested only in the result; the technique enabled me to get away from photography, to get away from banality, what I seek above all is to escape from banality, and here was a chance to produce a photograph that would not look like a photograph.'" (Schwarz, p. 282.) Calla Lilies, 1930 is a clear example of this desired effect as the petals are defined with a rich black outline instilling them with an otherworldly quality. Other prints of this image are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York and BibliothŠque Nationale, Paris.
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