Two years ago, Man Ray’s Le Violon d’Ingres (1924) showing a naked woman’s back with two f-shaped holes overlaid on top sold at Christie’s for $12.4 million after a bidding war on the phones. The print of the famed image of the artist’s muse, Kiki De Montparnasse, set a record for photography due to its rare status as an original photographic copy.
On April 11, one of the three prints made from the original negative in 1970 by the surrealist artist sold in Paris for €120,000 ($128,590) or €151,200 ($162,025) including buyer’s premium. This was well above its estimate of €40,000 to €60,000 ($42,860 to $64,300).
The sale was part of an auction of 200 Man Ray works from the collection of art historian Marion Meyer. Meyer met Man Ray in the late 1960s through her husband, Marcel Zerbib, the artist’s editor and close friend. The German gallerist also became part of Man Ray’s inner circle, and especially loved collecting his paintings, drawings, and objects.
Christie’s described the sale of Meyer’s 200 Man Ray items as “among the most comprehensive of the artist’s work and spans his entire career, beginning with the objects and drawings he made in New York in the 1910s as a Dadaist, and ending with his late assemblages.”
The collection included gelatin silver prints, the famous 1921 sculpture Cadeau of a flat iron with nails, and paintings, including All’s Well That Ends Well (1948). The frequently exhibited work named after Shakespeare’s comedy garnered the highest sales figure at €264,600 ($284,000) with buyer’s premium, well above its estimate of €100,000 to 150,000 ($107,000 to $160,000).
Several other May Ray items soared about their high estimates. A chess set sold for €201,600 ($216,000) on a high estimate of €30,000; a metronome titled Objet indestructible sold for €90,720 ($97,300) on a high estimate of €20,000; and Pain Peint, two bright blue resin fake French baguettes on iron scales, sold for €176,400 ($189,000) on a high estimate of €30,000.
The news of the sale was first reported by The Guardian Thursday.