If photography had been invented explicitly to limn the self as conscious of its social impersonation, it could not do so more accurately. Here is the artist in charge of his public identity. He wears a modified trench coat--the functional civilian adaptation of the officer's standard issue in World War I--clean linen, and a wedding band. He is well fed and certain that he deserves our attention. On the evidence of this portrait, we should be more surprised to see Picasso at work than being chauffeured to a reception in his Hispano-Suiza.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Pablo Picasso
Artist:Man Ray (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1890–1976 Paris)
Date:1933
Medium:Gelatin silver print
Dimensions:35.2 x 27.9 cm (13 7/8 x 11 in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
Inscription: Signed in ink on print, recto LL: "man ray 1933"; inscribed in pencil on print, verso LL and on mount, verso LL; "80.2.10.10";
Juliet Man Ray to Prakapas in February 1980; [Prakapas Gallery to Waddell, February 23, 1980]; John C. Waddell
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 23–December 31, 1989.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 28–April 22, 1990.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 10–July 15, 1990.
High Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 5–April 28, 1991.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 8–August 4, 1991.
IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. "The New Vision, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia," January 20, 1995–March 26, 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010.
National Portrait Gallery, London. "Man Ray Portraits," February 7, 2013–May 26, 2013.
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, National Galleries Scotland. "Man Ray Portraits," June 6, 2013–September 22, 2013.
Hambourg, Maria Morris. The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 43.
Pepper, Terence. Man Ray Portraits. London: National Portrait Gallery, London, 2013. no. 104.
Man Ray (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1890–1976 Paris)
1931
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