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Lot Essay
Andrew Strauss and Timothy Baum of the Man Ray Expertise Committee have confirmed the authenticity of this work and that it will be included in the Catalogue of Paintings of Man Ray, currently in preparation.
In 1913, Man Ray met Adon Lacroix, known as Donna, a French poet who he would marry a year later. Man Ray describes his first interaction with Donna: “Donna was her name, and I asked her to take a walk with me…She was beautiful with her golden hair and gray eyes, and had a wistful strained expression on her face” (Self-Portrait, Boston, 1963, p. 36). Due to compositional similarities that the work shares with a canvas from the same period entitled The Lovers, it is apparent The Rug portrays the artist and his wife intertwined in an intimate embrace. A guitar held by one of the figures further references Donna, as she could often be found playing the instrument.
When Man Ray relocated to a small cabin in Ridgefield, New Jersey, Donna accompanied him. He recalls often worrying about Donna, fearing she would grow bored when left alone during his excursions to the city. However, an artist in her own right, Donna wrote poetry and prose in his absence—equally inspired by the surroundings of her new rural retreat. The angular figures in The Rug are, at first, difficult to decipher against the jagged mountains that frame them. “The shape of the reclining figure in the foreground is articulated in such a way as to echo the profile of the distant mountain range, a repetition of form that might have contributed to the painting’s title, The Rug,” writes Francis Naumann, “for the overall effect is not dissimilar from the decorative pattern found in Native American blankets or Persian rugs” (exh. cat., op. cit., 2003, p. 96). Indeed, the composition of The Rug does have a pattern-like effect that harmoniously blends the figures and their setting into one striking unity.
In 1913, Man Ray met Adon Lacroix, known as Donna, a French poet who he would marry a year later. Man Ray describes his first interaction with Donna: “Donna was her name, and I asked her to take a walk with me…She was beautiful with her golden hair and gray eyes, and had a wistful strained expression on her face” (Self-Portrait, Boston, 1963, p. 36). Due to compositional similarities that the work shares with a canvas from the same period entitled The Lovers, it is apparent The Rug portrays the artist and his wife intertwined in an intimate embrace. A guitar held by one of the figures further references Donna, as she could often be found playing the instrument.
When Man Ray relocated to a small cabin in Ridgefield, New Jersey, Donna accompanied him. He recalls often worrying about Donna, fearing she would grow bored when left alone during his excursions to the city. However, an artist in her own right, Donna wrote poetry and prose in his absence—equally inspired by the surroundings of her new rural retreat. The angular figures in The Rug are, at first, difficult to decipher against the jagged mountains that frame them. “The shape of the reclining figure in the foreground is articulated in such a way as to echo the profile of the distant mountain range, a repetition of form that might have contributed to the painting’s title, The Rug,” writes Francis Naumann, “for the overall effect is not dissimilar from the decorative pattern found in Native American blankets or Persian rugs” (exh. cat., op. cit., 2003, p. 96). Indeed, the composition of The Rug does have a pattern-like effect that harmoniously blends the figures and their setting into one striking unity.