This sculptural nude study by Man Ray is executed with the artist’s characteristic expertise in rendering the female form. It is illustrated within the second suite of images in his 1934 monograph, Photographs by Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, a passage devoted exclusively to figure studies. The handwritten notations on the reverse of this print, by Man Ray and others, suggest a connection to this book. ‘Page 30’ matches the page placement within the book. While this print shows a fuller frame than appears in the book, the notations on the back indicate cropping of a substantial portion of the left side of the photograph resulting in image proportions that closely match the book illustration.

A print of another Man Ray nude study, with a handwritten page number (‘33’) that matches its placement the 1934 monograph, as well as ‘Original’ and ‘Anatomies’ notations on the verso, was offered at Christies, New York, on 6 October 2010 as lot 31. That print came from the collection of Marcel Natkin, author of numerous books on photography including Photography of the Nude (1937) which reproduced a number of nude studies by Man Ray.