INVENTORY OF THE MAN RAY LETTERS AND ALBUM,
1922-1976
Inventory prepared by Lynda Bunting, Liska Jacobs
The Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
Phone: (310) 440-7390
Fax: (310) 440-7780
Email Requests:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/reference_form.html
URL:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library
©1997
J. Paul Getty Trust.
INVENTORY OF THE MAN RAY LETTERS AND ALBUM,
1922-1976
Accession no. 930027
Finding aid prepared by Lynda Bunting
Getty Research Institute
Contact Information:
- The Getty Research Institute
- Research Library
- Special Collections and Visual Resources
- 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
- Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
- Phone: (310) 440-7390
- Fax: (310) 440-7780
- Email Requests:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/reference_form.html
- URL:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/
- Processed by:
- Lynda Bunting, Liska Jacobs
- Date Completed:
-
December 1996; revised Oct
2008
- Encoded by:
- Lynda Bunting and Philip Curtis
©1998 J. Paul Getty Trust
Descriptive Summary
Title: Man Ray letters and album
Date (inclusive): 1922-1976
Collection number: 930027
Creator:
Man Ray, 1890-1976
Extent:
2.5 linear feet
(5
boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Abstract: A significant ensemble of letters and writings
by or addressed to Man Ray and collected by his sister Elsie Ray Siegler and
her daughter Naomi Savage. The letters provide a rich chronicle of Man Ray's
personal and professional life from 1922 to 1976. Letters to Man Ray are from
Dada and surrealist artists and authors, and document the dynamic artistic and
literary scenes of the immediate pre- and post-World War II period in the
United States. An album of Man Ray's predominately handwritten manuscripts
supplements the letters.
Language: Collection
material in English,
and French
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Man Ray letters and album, 1922-1976, Getty Research Institute,
Research Library, Accession no. 930027.
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1993.
Biographical/Historical Note
American-born photographer, painter, and sculptor who played a key
role in the Surrealist and Dada movements. He lived and worked in Paris in the
1920s and 1930s, in Los Angeles in the 1940s, and Paris again until his death
in 1976.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Man Ray Letters and Album consists of a significant ensemble of
letters and writings by or addressed to Man Ray, collected and safeguarded by
his sister Elsie Ray Siegler and her daughter Naomi Savage. The letters from
Man Ray are addressed to Siegler and Savage and provide a rich chronicle of his
personal and professional life from 1922-1976. Letters to Man Ray are from
celebrated Dada and Surrealist artists and authors, and document the dynamic
artistic and literary scenes of the immediate pre-and post-World War II period
in the United States. An album of predominately handwritten manuscripts
supplements the letters by offering Man Ray's thoughts on a range of artistic
issues.
Arrangement
Series I.
Letters from Man Ray,
1922-1976
Physical Description:
ca. 400 items
Scope and Content Note
Series contains letters and postcards to Siegler and Savage. The
letters to his sister date from shortly after he arrived in Paris in 1921
(letters begin in 1922) to her death in 1957. Siegler acted as his New York
agent and thus handled many of his business affairs and set prices for some of
his works. By the 1950s she was his exclusive U.S. representative. Letters
cover these and other matters including tracking, storing and shipping of his
works in New York; exhibitions throughout his career; paucity of sales in the
early Paris and the Hollywood years; requests for camera equipment and
clothing; the war and property he abandoned in France; travels; creation, sale
and inventory of chess sets; his preference for painting over photography (see
especially letter dated 15 April 1936); the "Sade" painting; and his parent's
finances and other family matters.
The letters to his niece begin in 1945 and end in 1976, the year
he died. These letters record Savage's vigilance in caring for his works stored
in New York. They include topics such as, his encouragement and advice on her
photographic work; problems with gallery representation in Europe during his
later Paris period; book publications, especially
Self Portrait; success and
recognition obtained in the 1960s; and his failing health from the mid-1960s
onward. This series also includes a small quantity of letters received by
Siegler and Savage from galleries and museums concerning loans and shipping,
and correspondence with Adrienne Fidelin, Man Ray's lover in France prior to
his departure for the U.S. in 1940.
Box 1, Folder 1
Elsie Ray Siegler,
1922-1929
Physical Description:
23 items
Box 1, Folder 2
1930-1939
Physical Description:
44 items
Box 1, Folder 3
1940-1941
Physical Description:
33 items
Box 1, Folder 4
1942-1944
Physical Description:
24 items
Box 1, Folder 5
1945-1949
Physical Description:
40 items
Box 1, Folder 6
1950-1952
Physical Description:
17 items
Box 1, Folder 7
1953-1954
Physical Description:
35 items
Box 1, Folder 8
1956-1958,
n.d.
Physical Description:
33 items
Box 1, Folder 9
Naomi Savage,
1945-1959
Physical Description:
31 items
Box 1, Folder 10
1960-1964
Physical Description:
48 items
Box 2, Folder 1
Naomi Savage,
1965-1969
Physical Description:
39 items
Box 2, Folder 2
1970-1976
Physical Description:
39 items
Box 2, Folder 3
Letters to Siegler and Savage concerning Man Ray,
1936-1958
Physical Description:
25 items
Scope and Content Note
Letters, mostly from museums and galleries, pertain to loans and
shipping. Includes 2 letters from Hans Richter (27 Oct 1952, 24 Jun 1958).
Box 2, Folder 4
Adrienne Fidelin,
1940
Physical Description:
6 items
Scope and Content Note
Love letters in which they request news of each other. Man Ray's
letters to Fidelin never reached her and were returned to Siegler. Fidelin's
letters reached Siegler after Man Ray left for Hollywood.
Series II.
Letters to Man Ray,
1940-1950
Physical Description:
ca. 375 items
Scope and Content Note
Series contains letters and postcards of a personal and
professional nature from artists, authors, museum personnel, collectors,
publishers, and gallery owners, spanning Man Ray's years in Hollywood. The
letters from artists and authors document friendships, collaborations, works in
progress, emigrations from France, and exhibitions. Notable correspondents are
Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning, Henry Miller,
Gilbert Neiman, Mary Reynolds, Hans Richter, James Thrall Soby, and Yves
Tanguy.
Box 2, Folder 5
Dali, Salvador,
1941
Physical Description:
2 letters
Scope and Content Note
Letters requesting photographs for his book, with mentions of
travel, expositions, and other personal matters.
Box 2, Folder 6
Dreier, Katherine (Société Anonyme)
1945-1948
Physical Description:
6 items
Scope and Content Note
Includes letter asking Man Ray to become Vice President of the
society since Kandinsky died (1945); 3 letters, one of which has a note from
Duchamp (1948), concerning the Yale University Art Gallery exhibit and donation
of The Promenade; and postcard about Schwitters for an exhibition at the
Pinacotheca (1947).
Box 2, Folder 7
Duchamp, Marcel,
1940-1941,
1943-1950
Physical Description:
29 items
Scope and Content Note
Personal letters concerning his and other artists' plans for
leaving France; much on chess and the creation of chess sets and boards; about
an exhibition of rotoreliefs with sketches on how to install (948 Apr 10); and
about the creation and sale of his boxes; with news of Mary Reynolds and one
letter written by the two of them. (See also Mary Reynolds letters in Box 2,
folder 19, previously unidentified).
Box 2, Folder 8
Ernst, Max and Dorothea Tanning,
1948,
n.d.
Physical Description:
12 letters
Scope and Content Note
Chatty letters concerning personal matters with some comments
about work and exhibitions. Includes 1 letter from Tanning about touching up
some portrait photographs Man Ray sent and her photogenic qualities (Mar 24).
Most dated without years, 2 dated 1948.
Box 2, Folder 9
Ford, Charles-Henri,
1943
Physical Description:
2 postcards
Box 2, Folder 10
Miller, Henry,
1945-1948,
n.d.
Physical Description:
19 items
Scope and Content Note
Personal letters and postcards mentioning friends (several
references to Gilbert Neiman), books, Sade, and photographs for Miller's
postcard stationary. Also includes long discussions on the duality of man, and
suggests that Man Ray create portraits based on phrenology (Feb 9, Mar 24).
Box 2, Folder 11
Motherwell, Robert,
1948
Physical Description:
2 letters
Scope and Content Note
Regarding
Dada painters and poets. One
letter written by George Wittenborn.
Box 2, Folder 12
Neiman, Gilbert,
1943-1948,
1950
Physical Description:
29 letters
Scope and Content Note
Witty, personal letters contain much literary gossip, including
his thoughts on the work of Eluard, Breton, Céline, their mutual friend Henry
Miller and many other writers and publishers. Included are discussions of his
own writings and his struggles to publish. With a 4 p. poem "Twist the Face of
Time" (sent with a letter dated 1944 Sep 8) and two 1 p. poems, "A
Communication" and "Enocomics"(both ca. 1946).
Box 2, Folder 13-14
Richter, Hans,
1942-1950
Scope and Content Note
Three letters give news of himself and others, among other
things, 1948, 1950. Another folder contains 12 letters (1942, 1945-1946, 1948),
clippings, catalog and announcement concerning his film
Dreams that money can buy. The
letters chronicle Richter's difficulty interpreting Man Ray's story onto film,
his thoughts on how it should be done, the type of critics who are interested
in reviewing the film, and the Hollywood opening. The verso of one of the
letters contains a typed statement by Man Ray detailing his approach to art,
which was edited down for the catalog. (See also Special Collections accession
nos. 880428 and 970021 for more on
Dreams that money can buy.)
Box 2, Folder 15
Soby, James Thrall,
1939,
1941-1943,
1948-1949
Physical Description:
8 letters
Scope and Content Note
Letters in which Soby discusses the following topics (among
others): his thoughts about donating Man Ray's photographs that Soby published
to the museum in Hartford; his collection of art, including a drawing by
Picasso of Man Ray which Soby has but knows he should return to Man Ray; the
album sales; the task of locating photographs of Duchamp's works for a book;
his thoughts on the art business in NYC; his request for photographs for the
Army Camps show; and reassurances to Man Ray about the exhibit of his
photographs in Monroe Wheeler's portrait show.
Box 2, Folder 16
Tanguy, Yves,
1940,
1950,
undated
Physical Description:
3 items
Scope and Content Note
2 letters (one of which is illustrated on the verso) updating
Man Ray on emigration plans of their artist friends; with a note.
Box 2, Folder 17
Miscellaneous letters A-L
Physical Description: ca. 55 items
Scope and Content Note
Letters from artists, museum staff, gallery owners, collectors,
publishers, and friends concerning a variety of topics. Correspondents include
Antonin Artaud, Leo Castelli, Leonor Fini, Seymour Hacker, John Laughlin,
Julien Levy, among others.
Box 2, Folder 18
Miscellaneous letters M-Z
Physical Description: ca. 55 items
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Maria Martins, Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl
Moholy-Nagy, Pierre Matisse, Museum of Modern Art personnel, Beaumont Newhall,
Wolfgang Paalen, Kenneth Rexroth.
Box 2, Folder 19
Unidentified
Physical Description: ca. 20 items
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Mary Reynolds to Man Ray (Mary Louise
Hubachek Reynolds, 1891-1950), signed only "Mary", and previously unidentified.
In one letter she refers to her brother, Frank Brookes Hubachek.
Box 2, Folder 20
Miscellaneous
Physical Description: 5 items
Series III.
Hollywood album,
1940-1948
Physical Description:
3 boxes
Scope and Content Note
The Hollywood album holds handwritten and typescript writings,
most of one page, on art and aesthetics, written and assembled by Man Ray,
1940-1948. The album pages have been re-housed in boxes 3-4.
Loose items, including handwritten notes, photographs, drawings, a
manuscript, and a catalog, originally accompanied the notebook but are now
housed separately, with the original notebook binder, in box 5.
Box 3-4
Album
Scope and Content Note
Hollywood album is composed of 12 sections of manuscripts, by
topic.
Box 3
Music and Cinema
Scope and Content Note
On the cinema, ideas for films, the superiority of painting and drawing over film.
Box 3
Painting and Photography (P&P)
Box 3
In Time
Scope and Content Note
On the subject of time.
Box 3
Sade
Scope and Content Note
About the marquis de Sade.
Box 3
Influences
Scope and Content Note
Influences in art.
Box 3
Words
Scope and Content Note
On the study of words, writing and writers. Includes "Portraits" or "Men I have Known."
Box 4
Nature and the Man
Scope and Content Note
On the human form, imitation and nature.
Box 4
Dream
Scope and Content Note
Significance of dreams as subjects in art. Includes "Apprentices and pupils."
Box 4
Calm Diatribe
Scope and Content Note
Poem in handwritten and typed form.
Box 5
Material accompanying the Album
Scope and Content Note
Materials originally inside cover of a Julian Levy Gallery catalog.
Box 5, Folder 1
"A Note on the Shakespearean
Equations"
Box 5, Folder 1
"Equations for Shakespear [sic]"
Box 5, Folder 1
"Statement on Surrealism"
Box 5, Folder 1
"Inevitability of Modern Art"
Box 5, Folder 1
"The World We Make Believe"
Box 5, Folder 1
Drawings
Physical Description:
3 items
Scope and Content Note
Ink drawing of a camera; 2 pencil drawings.
Box 5, Folder 1
Photograph of group, Hollywood, 1948
Scope and Content Note
Alfred Lewin, Millie Lewin, Juliet Man Ray, Hans Richter, Man
Ray, Florence Homulka in front of poster for
Dreams that Money can Buy (film opening?).
Box 5, Folder 1
Astrological chart for Man Ray
Box 5, Folder 1
Julian Levy Gallery catalog,
1945
Box 5, Folder 2
Original notebook for Album
Scope and Content Note
Cover includes photograph of Man Ray signed by Man Ray and
Savage, 1948.
