Frances Poulenc (Primary Title)

Man Ray, American, 1890 - 1976 (Artist)

1923
American
Works On Paper
Gelatin silver print
Mount: 8 7/16 × 6 7/16 in. (21.43 × 16.35 cm)
Image: 8 3/16 × 6 3/16 in. (20.8 × 15.72 cm)
2019.54
This photograph bears a lengthy inscription by the artist on the reverse, informing us that its subject—the French composer and pianist Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)—was “one of the young composers of the French School” and at the time of his portrait was “writing a ballet for the de Diaghilev [sic] productions, the decors and costume being by Marie Laurencin.” This information dates the photograph to 1923, the year that Poulenc wrote the musical score for Les Biches (an untranslatable French word that typically appears in English titles as The Does, meaning adult female deer, but which undoubtedly also references the slang term for coquettish or flirtatious women). Commissioned by the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, the proprietor of the Ballet Russes, this sexually transgressive one-act ballet, with sets, costumes, and curtain designs by Marie Laurencin, became an immediate success after it premiered at the Théatre de Monte-Carlo on January 6, 1924.
Mounted to cardstock
Vanity Fair publication stamp in faded black ink on mount verso with graphite inscriptions: "10450" [graphite inscription] Stamp in red ink on mount verso: "Photo/ Man Ray/ Paris". (M#1- check Text Entry notes for stamp details)
Inscribed likely by photographer in faded black ink on mount verso: "Francis Poulenc/ one of the young composers of the French School,/ whose work is "known" [scratched out] heard at the modern/ recitals in Paris, and who is now writing a/ ballet for the de Diaghilev productions,/ the decors and costumes being by Marie Laurencin". Reduction notations in an unidentified hand in graphite on mount verso: [horizontal directional arrows on either side] "2". Inscribed in an unidentified hand in graphite on mount verso: "unpublished/ drawing published 1924".
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment
Man Ray: The Paris Years, VMFA, October 30, 2021 – February 21, 2022

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