Man Ray

Vierge apprivoisée, 1969

Vierge apprivoisée/Domesticated Virgin (Let Me Out), 1969
Bronze Ready-Made Sculpture in Original Plexiglass Presentation Box
Bronze Ready-Made: 3 5/8 x 2 x 3 inches
Plexiglass Box: 4 3/4 x 3 x 2 inches
Signed "Man Ray” lower left and numbered “e.a." lower right
Published by Marcel Zerbib

Provenance
Arthur Brandt, New York
Private Collection, New York

Literature
Andrea Inselmann, A Private Eye: Dada, Surrealism and More from the Brandt Collection, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 2006, p. 99, this example reproduced in color.
Jean-Hubert Martin, Rosalind Krauss, Brigitte Hermann, Man Ray: Objets de mon affection, Sculptures, Objets, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1983, no. 136, p. 155, another example reproduced.
Noriko Fuku, John P. Jacob, Man Ray: Unconcerned But Not Indifferent, The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2009, p. 195, another example reproduced.

Exhibited
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Man Ray, September-November, 1971, no. 212, another example exhibited.
Brussels, Maruani Mercier, From Man Ray to Mariën: An Idea of Surrealism, January 21-March 20, 2021, another example exhibited.
Boone, Turchin Center for the Arts, The Omnipotent Dream: Man Ray, Confluences and Influences, 2003, another example exhibited.
Ithaca, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, A Private Eye: Dada, Surrealism and More from the Brandt Collection, October 21, 2006-December 24, 2006, this example exhibited.
Paris, Éditions Cahiers d’Art, Man Ray, April 14-May 28, 2022, another example exhibited.

Inquire

Authenticity Guaranteed

In this choice example of Vierge apprivoisée/Domesticated Virgin (Let me out) created in 1969, Man Ray provokes viewers by trapping a miniature bronze cast of a nude woman in a plexiglass box that is composed of black plexiglass on all sides except its clear plexiglass front cover.

Vierge apprivoisée/Domesticated Virgin (Let me out)

In this choice example of Vierge apprivoisée/Domesticated Virgin (Let me out) created in 1969, Man Ray provokes viewers by trapping a miniature bronze cast of a nude woman in a plexiglass box that is composed of black plexiglass on all sides except its clear plexiglass front cover. Vierge apprivoisée, the French title translates as “Deprived Virgin”; however Man Ray, the masterful American who was fluent in English and French, provides an alternative title in English: Domesticated Virgin - Let me out. No further comment necessary.

Marcel Zerbib was a French Gallerist and publisher of Man Ray Ready-Mades; Zerbib published the catalogue MAN RAY objets de mon affection, "MAN RAY objects of my affection", for a 1968 exhibition at Galerie Europe, Paris. Although Man Ray originally created his series of Ready Mades in the 1920s, it was Marcel Zerbib’s initiative to publish an adjuct Ready Made multiple series in the 1960s. As the catalogue title indicates, the Ready-Mades were particularly special to Man Ray as he counted them among his favorites.

For reference, Arthur Brandt was a prolific New York collector who spent four decades acquiring Dada and Surrealist artworks after a chance encounter with Marcel Duchamp in 1955. In the 60's Arthur Brandt was introduced to Man Ray by Marcel Fleiss, the influential French art dealer.

As part of the PBS American Masters series, Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde covers the life and artwork of this innovative modern artist with both clips of interviews and archival footage of the times he lived in.