Man Ray | Mr. and Mrs. Woodman

Man Ray

Mr and Mrs Woodman. La Haye: Edition Unida, 1970

4to (280 x 240 mm). Signed "Man Ray" and numbered to colophon in black ink, 27 gelatin silver prints tipped to thick card, first print signed "Man Ray" in blue ink to verso, each stamped "epreuve orginale Man Ray"; a few spots. Original red morocco by M. Bueno, front cover with "MR" stamped in blind, spine gilt-lettered, beveled edges gilt, marbled endpapers. [With:] A numbered original engraving (275 x 245 mm), signed "Man Ray" and numbered "49/50" in pencil.

A captivating testament to the artist's recurring and iconic motif.

Originally photographed in 1947 and published only in 1970, Man Ray's use of mannequins would play an important role—appearing in several paintings and rayographs, spotlighted in his portfolio Resurrection of the Mannequins (1966), and finally within the present work. Bringing the figurines out of their typical use in still-life, the surrealist artist makes the inanimate animate, in stylized provocative poses. An additional 15 copies were printed, numbered I to XV, and reserved for the artist and his collaborators.

Introducing the mannequins as abstractions of human life, Man Ray's preface grounds their existence: "Of course it is unnecessary to say that Mrs. and Mr. Woodman first met in the forest. After a century or so they were liberated from their trees or from the same tree where they might have already been united in pre-marital bliss."