Man Ray

the photographer's '8 Rue du Val-de-Grace' (Manford M9) studio stamp (crossed out), annotated '2 bis rue Férou, Paris 6' by him in ink, on the reverse, tipped to a cream-colored mount, signed and dated by the photographer in pencil on the mount, signed, titled, and dated by him and numbered 'No 5' in an unidentified hand in pencil and with the '31 bis, Rue Campagne Première Paris XIVe' (Manford M28) posthumous studio stamp on the reverse, matted, framed, 1920, printed no later than circa 1937 

Private Collection

Acquired by the Quillan Company from the above, 1989

Jill Quasha, The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs (New York, 1991), pl. 8 (this print)

Another print with similar cropping:

Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination (New York, 1977), pl. 380

Other full-frame variants of this image:

The Little Review, Autumn 1922, Vol. IX, No. 1, unpaginated

Man Ray 1890-1976: Photographien (Vienna: KunstHausWien, 1996, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 19

Emmanuelle de l'Ecotais and Alain Sayag, eds., Man Ray: Photography and Its Double (Paris: Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1998, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 215

Man Ray (Aperture Masters of Photography, 1988), p. 39

Man Ray, Self Portrait (Boston, 1963), p. 82

This print is on double-weight paper with a matte surface and a subtly warm tonality. It is essentially in excellent condition, and has light age-appropriate silvering in dark areas. When the print is examined closely, some very minor wear on the lower corners can be noticed. There is also a tiny nick in lower right edge. These condition issues are not obtrusive and do not impact upon the fine appearance of this print. The print is tipped at the top corners only to heavy off-white paper. There is a small, light brown-toned spot on the lower portion of the mount. There are two faint linear areas of glue remains on reverse of the mount that are not visible from the front.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This print of Man Ray's penetrating portrait of Marcel Duchamp is one of very few extant prints of the image in this state, and is a rare example of Man Ray's pre-Paris, Dada-inspired work.  Man Ray took this photograph in New York City in 1920, possibly at his studio at 146 West 8^th Street, between 5^th and 6^th Avenues.  At the time this photograph was made, Duchamp had long since 'retired' from painting and brought his formidable imagination to bear on the creation of new forms of art that included his 'readymades,' as well as his monumental Large Glass.  Man Ray, himself trained as a painter, had begun in the 'teens to focus more upon photography, and his work by the 'twenties had become increasingly experimental.  In 1920, Man Ray, Duchamp, and artist and arts patron Katherine Dreier founded Société Anonyme, Inc., an organization devoted to promoting and exhibiting new art.  The Société sponsored group and solo exhibitions of work by American and European artists as diverse as Piet Mondrian, Arthur Dove, El Lissitzky, Juan Gris, and Wassily Kandinsky, to name but a very few.   In 1921, Man Ray left New York for Paris, where he immersed himself in the Surrealist movement. 

The portrait of Duchamp offered here is a cropped version of a larger negative.  The full frame shows both Duchamp and artist Joseph Stella (a member of the Société, and the subject of a solo exhibition in 1923), with a print of Man Ray's Woman Smoking (1920) tacked to the wall behind them.  For the present print, Man Ray cropped the negative to focus on Duchamp, eliminating Stella entirely, thereby creating an intimate portrait of his friend and mentor who regards the camera with his trademark sang-froid.  

As of this writing, it is believed that only two other prints with this cropping have appeared at auction: an early print formerly in the collection of Arturo Schwarz, at Sotheby's London on 4 December 1985 (Sale 3381, A Collection of Dada Art, Lot 125); and a 1960s print at Swann Galleries on 3 April 2000 (Sale 1855, Lot 339).   Prints of the full negative are similarly rare: The Museum of Modern Art owns a full-frame print of the image, formerly in the collection of Thomas Walther; The J. Paul Getty Museum owns a print; and another is in the Société Anonyme Collection at Yale University, given by Duchamp and Katherine Dreier in 1941.