Man Ray (1890-1976)

Peinture naturelle (Natural Painting)

signed and dated 'man Ray (1975)' (lower right)

acrylic on masonite, 50x70 cm

Exhibited: -Drachten, Museum Dr8888, 'Man Ray. Holland Dada and the international context', 23 April - 18 September 2016, cat. no. 139 (illustrated on p. 198 of the exhibition catalogue). -Utrecht, Centraal Museum, 'Surreële Werelden', 15 February - 9 June 2014.

In 1958, Man Ray experimented with rapid drying acrylic paint and developed the automatic technique whereby he applied paint in heavy patches to a board or panel, placed a second panel on top and then squeezed the two together, often by sitting on them. When the panels were separated, the artist would obtain abstract colourful effects, with a heavy impasto. Sometimes the result would leave a sufficient amount of paint on each panel to produce two works, mirror images of each other.

Man Ray described how he developed the technique for his ‘Natural Paintings’ series as followed: ‘At the same time I sought a new technique that would be more automatic as when a seed or sampling is planted and the forces of nature are counted on to do the rest. By spreading the colours according to the impulse of the moment, I abandoned brushes and palette knives, and applied pressure with other surfaces, withdrawing them to produce a variation of the Rorschach test. The results were astonishing, with details that could have been obtained only through long and meticulous labor by hand. I gave these productions the general title of ‘Natural Paintings’. (‘source: Self Portrait’, 1988, p. 302)

For this artist resale right is applicable from €2400 hammer price onwards