Man Ray, objects 1916-1921 : the role of aesthetics in the art of idea

162 Pages·2017·12.64 MB·English

by  Shannon Halwes

RICE UNIVERSITY
MAN RAY: OBJECTS 1916-1921
THE ROLE OF AESTHETICS IN THE ART OF IDEA
by
SHANNON HALWES
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
MASTER OF ARTS
APPROVED, THESIS COMMITTEE
Dr. William A. Camfield, Professor
Director
Department of Art and Art History
/ ^7
Dr. Walter M. Widrig,
Associate Professor
Department of Art and Art History
Assistant Professor
Department of Art and Art History
Houston, Texas
May, 1990
3 1272 00637 7426
Copyright
Shannon Halwes
1990
Abstract
Man Ray: Objects 1916-1921
The Role of Aesthetics in the Art of Idea
Shannon Lea Halwes
This thesis concerns the object in the work of Man Ray from 1916-1921, his
New York Period. The object, which grew out of Marcel Duchamp's invention
of the readymade, was developed early on by both Duchamp and Man Ray.
The conceptual aspects of the object, infamous for its inclusion of everyday,
non-art materials and for its assertion of the will of the artist over
craftsmanship, have long been recognized. The aesthetic aspects of this new
art, beyond the ramifications of the chosen media in regard to traditional
concepts of beauty, have been less of a concern for art historians and critics.
This thesis studies the varying extent of Man Ray's interest in aesthetics as can
be seen in his objects. In analyzing the aesthetic qualities of these objects his
connection to the art of his time becomes more apparent, important
differences between his work and that of Duchamp are discovered, and the
role played by the photography and editions of Man Ray's objects in the
formation and the viewer's perception of the work is revealed. The blend of
formal and conceptual concerns in Man Ray's object making shows that there
is a place for aesthetics in the art of idea.
Acknowledgements
This thesis has been the product of the support and assistance of many long-
suffering friends, relatives, and colleagues. Almost no one known to me
escaped, and you have my deepest gratitude. I would especially like to thank
those who were forced to read this lengthy essay, often more than once, for
their friendly and infinitely helpful critcism: Elizabeth Blocher, Allison Leach,
Emily Ballew Neff, Dr. Christopher Parslow, Susanna Sheffield, and Dr.
Walter Widrig. Thanks to Gregory Burbridge and Anne Nixon for thier
support thoughout this project and their help in making it look right. To
Arturo Schwarz and Juliet Man Ray for a glimpse at who Man Ray was. To
Francis Naumann and Gerome Gold for providing information, suggestions,
and answers to questions at odd hours of the day and night. Special thanks to
my mother, Adaire Fisher, who tried to make me a better writer and who
provided love and support that helped me survive the last three years. And
to Dr. William Camfield who was eternally generous with advice, criticism,
suggestions, contacts, leads, books, catalogues, files, phone numbers, answers,
questions, and most important of all encouragement to write clearer, think
harder, and look closer.
Contents
Illustrations ii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Man Ray was born one no longer knows where 8
Chapter 2 As different as the collages of Picasso and Braque 30
Chapter 3 Photography can be art 49
Chapter 4 It is divine to create and human to make editions 57
Chapter 5 Plastic poems 63
Tapestry 65
Boardwalk 74
New York 1917 79
By Itself, I & II 83
Man 89
Woman 93
Lampshade 96
Catherine Barometer 103
Compass 107
Eighth Street 109
The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse Ill
L'Inquiétude 119
New York 1920 124
Obstruction 127
Portmanteau 131
Presse-Papier à Priape 135
Puériculture 138
Trans Atlantique 143
Conclusion 147
Bibliography 1 149
Illustrations
I. Man Ray: Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz, 1913. Oil on canvas; The Beinecke Rare
Book and Manuscript Library, Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Yale University
Library, New Haven.
Z Man Ray: Man Ray, 1914. Oil on Board; Lee Miller Archive.
3. Man Ray: Black Widow, 1915. Oil on Canvas; Collection Marion Meyer, Paris.
4. Francis Picabia: Ici, c'est ici Stieglitz, 1915. Reproduced in 291, no. 5-6, July-
August 1915. Lunn Gallery/Graphics International Ltd., Washington, D.C.
5. Man Ray: Untitled, 1915. Ink on Paper; Morton G. Neumann Family
Collection, Chicago.
6. Francis Picabia: Voilà, la femme, 1916. Watercolor, gouache, and oil on paper;
Collection Robert Lebel, Paris.
7. Constantin Brancusi: Princess X, 1916. Marble; Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Gift of Mrs. A. B. Sheldon.
8. Marcel Duchamp: In Advance of the Broken Arm, 1915, edition 1964, 8 ex.
Snow shovel.
9. Marcel Duchamp: Fountain, 1917. Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, from The
Blind Man, no. 2 (May 1917).
10. Marcel Duchamp: Bicycle Wheel, 1913, edition 1964, 8 ex. Bicycle wheel
mounted on a wooden stool
II. Marcel Duchamp: With Hidden Noise, 1916. Ball of twine and brass plates;
Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art.
12. Marcel Duchamp: Why Not Sneeze Rrose Sélavy, 1920.152 marble cubes,
thermometer, and cuttle bone in a bird cage; Louise and Walter Arensberg
Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art.
13. Paul Strand: Abstraction, Bowls, 1914 or 1915. Photogravure; The Witkin
Gallery, Inc., New York.
14. Man Ray: Tapestry 1911,1919. Fabric mounted on canvas; Man Ray Trust,
Paris.
15. Anonymous: Quilt (Squares), New Jersey, c. 1890.
16. Man Ray: Self Portrait, 1916. Gelatin silver print; J. Paul Getty Museum,
Malibu.
17. Man Ray: Self Portrait, edition 1970,40 ex. Serigraph on plexiglass.
iii
18. Jean Crotti: The Clown, 1916. Lead, glass eyes, colored paper attached to glass;
Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
19. Man Ray: Boardwalk, 1917. Paint, knobs, cloth covered cord on wood;
Collection Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart.
20. Man Ray: Boardwalk, edition 1973, 9 ex. India ink and collage on wood
panel.
21. Man Ray: New York 1917,1917. Wooden slats and metal clamp; object
destroyed.
22. Man Ray: New York 1917, model used for edition 1966, date unknown.
Wooden slats and painted metal clamp; Phillip Rein, Paris.
23. Man Ray: New York 1917, edition 1966,9 ex. Chrome plated bronze, brass,
painted brass damp.
24. Abraham Walkowitz: Cityscape, c. 1912. Watercolor; Zabriskie Gallery, New
York.
25. Man Ray: By Itself 1,1918. Wood, cork and iron; Westfâlisches
Landesmuseum fiir Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Munster.
26. Man Ray: By Itself I, edition 1966,9 ex. Gilded bronze.
27. Man Ray: By Itself II, 1918. Wood; Kunsthaus, Zürich.
28. Man Ray: By Itself II, edition 1966, 9 ex. Gilded Bronze.
29. Max Weber: Spiral Rhythm, 1915. Bronze; Hirshom Museum and Sculpture
Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
30. Man Ray, Untitled, 1919. Aerograph and watercolor on panel; Staatsgalerie,
Stuttgart.
31. Man Ray: Man, 1918. Silver Print; Jedermann Collection.
32. Man Ray: Man, 1918, print 1920. Collection Musée National d'Art
Modeme, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
33. Frands Picabia: Ane, 1917. From 391, no. 5 (June 1917).
34. Man Ray: Woman, 1918. Silver print; Gilman Paper Company.
35. Marcel Duchamp: Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass),
1914-1923. Oil, varnish, lead foil, lead wire and dust; Katherine S. Dreier
Bequest, Philadelphia Museum of Art.
36. Man Ray: Lampshade, 1919 or 1920, post card, 1921.
37. Man Ray: Lampshade, edition 1921. Painted tin, wire, and metal rod screwed
into wooden base; Collection Sodété Anonyme, Yale University Art
Gallery.
iv
38. Man Ray: Lampshade, edition 1923 (photograph with Tristan Tzara and Jean
Cocteau). Paper; Collection Arnold Crane.
39. Man Ray: Lampshade, edition 1954. Painted aluminum; Collection Man
Ray, Paris.
40. Man Ray: Lampshade, edition 1959,100 ex. Galvanized iron painted white;
Museum Ludwig, Cologne.
41. Man Ray: Catherine Barometer, 1920. Washboard, glass tube, colored strips of
wood; Alain Terika, Paris.
42. Marius de Zayas: Abstract Caricature of Alfred Stieglitz, c. 1913. Charcoal;
Metropolitan Museum, Alfred Stieglitz Collection.
43. Marsden Hartley: One Portrait of One Woman, 1912. Oil on composition
board; University Gallery, University of Minnesota, on extended loan
from lone and Hudson Walker.
44. Man Ray: Compass, 1920. Silver print photograph, Man Ray Trust ADAGP;
Collection Lucien Treillard, Paris.
45. Man Ray: Eighth Street, 1920. Silver print photograph, Man Ray Trust
ADAGP.
46. Man Ray: The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse, 1920. Silver print photograph;
Gérard Levy Paris.
47. Man Ray: The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse, edition 1969.
48. Man Ray: The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse, edition 1971,10 ex.
49. Man Ray: Enigma II, 1935. Silver print photograph; Collection Luciano
Anselmino, Milan.
50. Man Ray: L'Inquiétude, 1920-21. Silver print photograph, printed later; J.
Paul Getty Museum, Malibu.
51. Man Ray: Inquiétude II, 1965. Collage on paper; Collection Mr. and Mrs.
Gifford Phillips, Santa Monica.
52. Jean Crotti: Solution de continuité, 1916. String, scissors, glass beads and
mirror attached to glass; private collection.
53. Francis Picabia: Reveil Matin, 1919. Ink on paper, Collection Mrs. Barnett
Malbin, New York.
54. Man Ray: New York 1920,1920. Gelatin silver print photograph; Menil
Collection, Houston.
55. Man Ray: Obstruction, 1920, photograph 1920, Man Ray Trust ADAGP.
56. Man Ray: Obstruction, edition 1964,10 ex.
57. Marcel Duchamp: Sculpture for Traveling, 1918. Strips of bathing caps
cemented together tied to strings; object destroyed.
58. Man Ray: Portmanteau, 1920. Silver print photograph; Gérard Levy, Paris.
59. Man Ray: dadaphoto, 1921. Collage; Timothy Baum, New York.
60. Man Ray: Presse-papier à Priape, edition 1966,8 ex. Sterling sliver.
61. Man Ray: Puériculture, 1920. Painted metal and plaster hand; Art Institute of
Chicago. Bequest of Florence S. McCormick.
62. Man Ray: Puériculture II, 1964,12 ex. Polychrome bronze.
63. Man Ray: New York 1920,1920. Silver print photograph, Man Ray Trust
ADAGP; Gérard Levy, Paris.
64. Man Ray: Trans atlantique, 1921. Collage with printed map, silver print
photograph, ink, and paper on paper; Collection Dr. Ewald Rathke,
Frankfurt.
65. Man Ray: Trans atlantique, edition 1964. Collage of photograph, Gitanes
brand cigarette wrapper, and map of Paris; G. Spinola, Genf.
Introduction
Man Ray's objects have had an interesting if volatile place in the history
of art. Because these objects were created in a time of experimentation and
rebellion, they have come to represent the anti-art stance critics believe was
inherent in dada. The objects are much more complex than simple anti-art
artifacts, however, and it is quite possible that they were not originally
intended as a rejection of art at all. The purpose of the object was in part to
challenge traditional art values that artists of the early avant-garde had begun
to consider invalid. Like the abstract artists of both Europe and America, Man
Ray found a way to reject traditional aesthetics and still perpetuate artistic
concerns such as form and design. His work exhibited a clearer interest in the
conceptual aspects of art—shown in his exploration of titles, mystery, humor,
and hidden personal meanings—than is seen in the work of other early
abstract artists who focused more on aspects such as form, space, and color
than on content. Man Ray's work combines conceptual and formal aspects.
Although he has been considered a proto-conceptual artist and an anti-artist,
simple categorization of Man Ray as a conceptual artist is not accurate. The
formal aspects of his early objects usually have equal and sometimes greater
importance than the conceptual concerns, indicating some strong visual
concerns on the part of the artist. The following essay explores the role of
aesthetics in the twenty objects Man Ray created between 1916-1921, the latter
part of the New York period of his work.
It is no simple task to discuss all of Man Ray's work, even for the five-year
period treated in this paper. Even limiting the paper to the twenty objects
created within this period leaves over sixty photographs and editions of these