Man Ray

Don de l'artiste au propriétaire actuel vers 1970-71

Alain Jouffroy, "Man Ray devant les femmes", XX^e Siècle, no. 35, décembre 1970, illustré p. 54
Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, Londres, 1977, no. 186, illustré p. 110
Janus, Man Ray: Œuvres 1909-1972, Paris, 1990, no. 67, n.p.

The canvas is not lined. Apart from tiny spots of dirt in the upper left corner that fluoresce under UV light, and some minor surface dirt, this work is in excellent condition.
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signed 'Man Ray' and dated '1955', oil on canvas. Painted in 1955.

Fig. 1, Man Ray, Oblivia, 1947, huile, Fuji Art Museum, Tokyo


Peint à Paris en 1955, Tête jaune, est exemplaire de la manière dont, après-guerre, Man Ray emploie couleurs et techniques inédites pour recréer les thèmes et les compositions de ses œuvres antérieures, l'effet étant d'en renouveler le sens.

L'œuvre est un portrait stylisé de Juliette, la seconde femme de Man Ray qu'il épousa en 1946 à Hollywood. Ses grands yeux effilés, les traits anguleux de son visage délicat, les boucles de ses cheveux, tout la désigne comme une femme distinguée et la distingue des portraits des autres femmes et muses qui partagèrent la vie de Man Ray.

Comme il est fréquent dans les œuvres de cette période, le portrait renvoie à une peinture antérieure datant de 1947. Intitulée Oblivia (Fig.1), elle lui aurait été inspirée par la pièce de Shakespeare Mesure pour mesure et ouvrirait la voie au cycle des peintures dites 'mathématiques' auxquelles Man Ray donne le nom des tragédies de Shakespeare. Si elle en reprend le motif, celui du visage endormi, et la composition générale, Tête jaune s'impose comme une version plus sophistiquée de la toile de 1947 qui serait elle-même dérivée du portrait qu'il fit en 1913 de sa première épouse, Adon Lacroix. Poétesse belge, celle-ci vécut à Ridgefield (New Jersey) dans une communauté de jeunes artistes américains où, de 1913 à 1915, elle donna à Man Ray le goût de la littérature et de la langue française : deux éléments essentiels et décisifs de la carrière artistique de l'artiste qui, entre dadaïsme et surréalisme, allait longtemps séjourner à Paris.

L'originalité de la composition, la sincérité des traits et les audaces chromatiques font de Tête jaune une œuvre particulièrement aboutie et un très bel hommage à l'épouse dont il ne devait plus se séparer.

Painted in Paris in 1955, Tête jaune, is an example of the manner in which, after the war, Man Ray employed new colours and techniques to recreate themes and compositions of his previous works, thus bringing new meaning to them.

The work is a stylized portrait of Juliette, Man Ray's second wife whom he married in 1946 in Hollywood. Her large, slender eyes, the angular traits of her delicate face, the curls in her hair, all mark her as a distinguished woman and set her apart from the portraits of the other women and muses in Man Ray's life.

Like other works of this period, the portrait is a reworking of a previous painting from 1947. Entitled Oblivia (Fig. 1), it was most likely inspired by Shakespeare's play Measure by Measure and opened the way for a cycle of paintings called "mathematics" which Man Ray named after the tragedies of Shakespeare. Though it uses the same subject, showing the face of a person sleeping, and general composition, Tête jaune is essentially a more sophisticated version of the 1947 canvas which was itself derived from a portrait that he painted in 1913 of his first wife, Adon Lacroix. She was a Belgian poet who lived in Ridgefield, New Jersey, in a community of young American artists where, from 1913 to 1915, she gave Man Ray a taste of literature and the French language: two essential and decisive elements in the career of the artist who, between Dadaism and Surrealism, would spend much time in Paris.

The originality of the composition, the sincerity of the features and the audacious colours make Tête jaune a particularly accomplished work and a beautiful homage to the partner from whom he was to become inseparable.