Les Amoureux
Artist
Man Ray
(American, 1890 - 1976)
Date1929; printed 1940
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 16 9/16 × 23 3/8 inches (42.07 × 59.37 cm)
Mount: 20 3/4 × 27 3/8 inches (52.71 × 69.53 cm)
Mount: 20 3/4 × 27 3/8 inches (52.71 × 69.53 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.5002
SignedSinged on image recto, lower right, in pencil: "Man Ray".
InscribedOn image recto, lower left, in pencil: "Les Amoureux 1929".
Markingsnone
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionCloseup grainy image of a woman's lips.Exhibition HistoryA Transatlantic Avant-Garde: American Artists in Paris, 1918-1939. Terra Foundation for the Arts, Chicago, IL, August 2003-June 2004 (traveled).
Rotation 4. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, August 20, 2008 – January 15, 2009, no cat.
World War I and the Rise of Modernism. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 9 – October 18, 2015, no cat.
Rotation 24. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – November 12, 2017, no cat.
Man Ray was a leader in the New York Dada group, an artistic movement dedicated to irrationalism and nonconformity. He explored a wide range of photographic effects and techniques. To make this image, Man Ray enlarged a segment of a portrait of his former lover, Lee Miller. Produced just after their breakup, this image suggests an overwhelming sense of longing and desire. The free-floating lips become a mysterious symbol of both love and loss.
Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, NY;
Purchased from Edwynn Houk Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1991;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
Purchased from Edwynn Houk Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1991;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
Copyright© Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris
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