Man Ray 1890-1976
Portrait of Picasso, 1922
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
29.8 x 22.5 cms
11 11/16 x 8 13/16 ins
11 11/16 x 8 13/16 ins
13308
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Beautiful matt vintage print. Stamped on the reverse MAN RAY PARIS This portrait of Picasso is extremely rare. It is the first portrait Man Ray took of Picasso and is...
Beautiful matt vintage print.
Stamped on the reverse MAN RAY PARIS
This portrait of Picasso is extremely rare. It is the first portrait Man Ray took of Picasso and is far scarcer than Man Ray's famous 1930s image of Picasso seated with an ash tray on the table in front of him.
This celebrated portrait of Picasso shows the artist surrounded by recent cubist paintings in his apartment at 23 rue de LA Boetie, where he also had his studio. It is one of the first portraits taken by Man Ray following his arrival in Paris in 1921. It was commissioned by the artist and collector Henri-Pierre Roche, who asked Man Ray to document the paintings in Picasso's studio. While there Man Ray also took this portrait of Picasso. It was reproduced shortly afterwards in the July 1922 issue of Vanity Fair. Correspondence from 1922 in the Musee Picasso Archive records Picasso granting permission to Man Ray to reproduce these works.
In his autobiography, Man Ray described Picasso: "Picasso gave me the impression of a man who was aware of all that was going on about him and in the world in general, a man who reacted violently to all impacts, but had only one outlet to express his feelings: painting. His short epigrammatic or enigmatic phrases which he let drop from time to time only emphasized his impatience with any other form of expression" (Man Ray, Self Portrait, London and Boston, 1988, p. 177).
Man Ray photographed Picasso many times but felt that this first portrait "showed the intense, intransigient look of the man, the black eyes sizing one up".
The negative for this picture is held by the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
Another print is held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
When blacklighted, this vintage print does not fluoresce.
Stamped on the reverse MAN RAY PARIS
This portrait of Picasso is extremely rare. It is the first portrait Man Ray took of Picasso and is far scarcer than Man Ray's famous 1930s image of Picasso seated with an ash tray on the table in front of him.
This celebrated portrait of Picasso shows the artist surrounded by recent cubist paintings in his apartment at 23 rue de LA Boetie, where he also had his studio. It is one of the first portraits taken by Man Ray following his arrival in Paris in 1921. It was commissioned by the artist and collector Henri-Pierre Roche, who asked Man Ray to document the paintings in Picasso's studio. While there Man Ray also took this portrait of Picasso. It was reproduced shortly afterwards in the July 1922 issue of Vanity Fair. Correspondence from 1922 in the Musee Picasso Archive records Picasso granting permission to Man Ray to reproduce these works.
In his autobiography, Man Ray described Picasso: "Picasso gave me the impression of a man who was aware of all that was going on about him and in the world in general, a man who reacted violently to all impacts, but had only one outlet to express his feelings: painting. His short epigrammatic or enigmatic phrases which he let drop from time to time only emphasized his impatience with any other form of expression" (Man Ray, Self Portrait, London and Boston, 1988, p. 177).
Man Ray photographed Picasso many times but felt that this first portrait "showed the intense, intransigient look of the man, the black eyes sizing one up".
The negative for this picture is held by the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
Another print is held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
When blacklighted, this vintage print does not fluoresce.
Provenance
Private Collection, FranceExhibitions
Man Ray Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2013 (another print).Literature
Vanity Fair, July 1922 (illustrated)Ray Portraits. Paris-Hollywood-Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2010. (Illustrated on the cover and on page 212)2
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