Bunkamura Museum of Art, Photographies de Man Ray, p. 302 (variant cropping) Manford, Behind the Photo: The Stamps of Man Ray, n.p., for stamp
Catalogue Essay
A dancer, cabaret artist, actress, bar owner and magazine writer, Valeska Gert was a revolutionary avant-garde figure in Weimar Germany. Her performances, which she referred to as ‘grotesque dances,’ melded elements of dance and pantomime through exaggerated expressions and movements which both fascinated and shocked audiences in the 1920s. Gert’s most daring performance, Pause, consisted of her standing onstage between reels at a cinema and staring out at the audience for twenty minutes, predating performances such as Marina Abramović’s The Artist is Present by nearly a century. Her other performances in Berlin theaters included characters and concepts such as ‘baby,’ ‘whore,’ ‘death,’ and ‘orgasm,’ the latter of which resulted in the audience calling the police. Gert’s provocative performances, radical interdisciplinary experimentation, and fearless artistic spirit made her a captivating subject for Man Ray.
1925 Gelatin silver print. 10 1/2 x 8 in. (26.7 x 20.3 cm) Titled 'Valeska Gert' in pencil and the '31 bis Rue Campagne-Première' credit stamp (Manford M2 or M3) on the verso.
