Man Ray - Photographs New York Wednesday, April 6, 2022 | Phillips

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  • "To the developed mind that creates an image whose strangeness and reality stirs our subconscious to its inmost depths, the awakening of desire is the first step to participation and experience." —Man Ray

    Apart from his nude studies, Man Ray is generally not considered a photographer of natural forms. Yet he included several such images in his first monograph Photography by Man Ray: 1920 Paris 1934, including five floral studies. Those images, like the study of passionflowers offered here, are energized by Man Ray’s vast imagination and technical flair. The passionflower is named for the Passion of Christ, which provides one possible subtext for the image, as does the erotic associations of the word passion.  In Man Ray’s handling, the flowers transcend the real and become surreal.  

    • Literature

      Steidl, Man Ray: Trees + Flowers – Insects Animals, p. 54
      Manford, Behind the Photo: The Stamps of Man Ray, for stamps

230

Fleurs de la Passion

circa 1924
Gelatin silver print.
6 5/8 x 9 in. (16.8 x 22.9 cm)
Signed in pencil on the mount; '31 bis Rue Campagne-Première' credit stamp (Manford M2) on the verso.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$15,000 - 25,000 

Sold for $20,160

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com


Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 6 April 2022