Man Ray

Gallery Mayer (Jack Mayer), New York (acquired from the artist in 1959)
Acquired from the above in June 1981

New York, Valentine Gallery, Drawings by Man Ray, 1936, no. 17
Paris, Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Les Dessins de Man Ray, 1937, n.n.
New York, Gallery Mayer, Man Ray Drawings, 1959, no. 17
Princeton, University Art Museum, Man Ray, Drawings, Watercolors, Rayograms, Chess Sets, Books, Objects, 1963, n.n. (no. 5 of the Mains Libres drawings)

Paul Éluard, Les Mains Libres, dessins illustrés par les poèmes de Paul Éluard, Paris, 1937, illustrated p. 141

This work is in overall very good condition. Executed on thick cream wove paper, not laid down. The sheet is fixed to the mount at various points along the perimeter of the verso and floating in an over-mount. Some very minor creasing and studio stains around the extreme perimeter of the sheet, notably in the corners. The sheet is very lightly time-stained although this is not distracting. A few scattered spots of faint foxing towards the lower corners. Otherwise, fine.
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.

By the mid-1930s, Man Ray lost interest in commercial photography and returned to painting and drawing, creating some of his most accomplished Surrealist compositions. In Paris, New York and the South of France in 1936-37, he completed a series of drawings, sixty-five of which, including lots 374-376, he selected for publication in Les Mains Libres in 1937. In true Surrealist fashion, the collaborative publication was conceived as a dream journal reproducing Man Ray’s drawings which were in turn "illustrated" by poems by Paul Éluard. Man Ray declared the importance of this series of drawings to New York art critic Henry McBride: "In these drawings, my hands are dreaming… they are the sum of all of my experience..."

On 14, July 1936, Man Ray traveled to Marseille with Paul Éluard. The serendipitous date of this trip to the Mediterranean port no doubt inspired the artist to compose this paean, for it can be no coincidence that the French national anthem, traditionally sung on Bastille Day, shares its title with this drawing. The rousing patriotic song was so named after volunteers from Marseille were heard chanting it as they marched to the capital during the Revolution. Here, Man Ray plays on the fact that the word "Marseillaise" can also refer to a woman from the city, depicting a view of the harbor with sailors aboard a rowing boat in the foreground seemingly oblivious to the mythical female figure suspended from the prow of a ship behind them. Evoking representations of sea goddesses and sailors’ muses throughout the history of art, such as the Winged Victory of Samothrace, this sensual image of a naiad would later be reworked in the painting Pisces (Tate Gallery, London), in which a woman’s body is paired with a fish.

La clé de voûte ce silence
Pendant qu’elle ouvre son coursage

Pendant qu’elle passe à travers
Les Roseaux de ses bras

Païenne éperdue de tendresse

Ceux qu’elle cherche
Ont tout au plus
La conscience égoïste
D’un menu gibier de prison

- Paul Éluard