Le violon d’Ingres
Le violon d’Ingres made its debut in the June 1924 issue of the proto-Surrealist journal Littérature, just as members of the Dada and Surrealist groups in Paris attempted to tap into their unconscious minds. The title refers not only to the neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and his paintings of elongated, exoticized female nudes, but also to the idea that the subject, Kiki du Montparnasse, was the center of Man Ray’s inner life. At the time, “le violon d’Ingres” was a common French phrase invoking a legend that Ingres was prouder of his unexceptional violin playing than of the painting for which he was famous.
Artwork Details
- Title: Le violon d’Ingres
- Artist: Man Ray (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1890–1976 Paris)
- Date: 1924
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 19 × 14 3/4 in. (48.3 × 37.5 cm)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Bluff Collection, Promised Gift of John A. Pritzker
- Rights and Reproduction: © Man Ray 2015 Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris 2025
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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