Group Project - Collaborative work research

For this group project research I decided look at a series of collaborative portraits from Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp in reference to my previous piece of research about Man Ray.

Rrose Sélavy by Man Ray

As I mentioned in said post, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp,  were often collaborating with each other, and one of the most recognizable series of artworks on which they did are portraits of Rrose Sélavy, a female alter ego of Marcel Duchamp. 

The first appearance of  Rose, at that time with only one 'R', is dated at 1920, and a year later with addition of said 'R' in her signature under L’Oeil Cacodylate, an artwork created by Francis Picabia, his collaboration with Man Ray officially started. Of course, being a dadaistic character Rrose's name did not come from an accident, it actually is a homophone of a french sentence 'Eros, c’est la vie', which can be translated to 'Love, that's life' and is a french adage, which is often used in as a theme in art in general (Hawkins, 2015).

The entire idea of creating such character come from originating at the time trend of challenging the perception of gender and stereotypes. At the similar time Claude Cahun started creating her own autoportraits having by its purpose exact same thing. These portraits in which are reflected searches of identity and presenting themselves in different light started a movement and helped many people ashamed of their identity (Britannica Academic, n.d.).

As important as the actual Rrose is, another very important aspect of this photograph is, well, photography. Duchamp entrusted this task of visualizing his alter ego in hands of Man Ray, praised photographer, whose work was at the time often published in popular magazines, like Vogue. 

'Man Ray gives Rrose the lighting, the sultry look, that made him so in demand in magazines such as Vogue' (Jones, 2001)

We have to remember, that while the Duchamp's persona would not be as important at the time, if it was not for astonishing photography skills of Man Ray.

La Cheminée Anaglyphe - Marcel Duchamp

Over the years Ray and Duchamp were collaborating on a number of different artworks, like Dadaistic films and paintings, e.g. 'Nude Descending a Staircase'. Their collaborations lasted just as long as their friendship, until Marcel Duchamp died in 1968. In the same year these friends created one last collaborative work, a photograph by Man Ray of unfinished sculpture by Marcel Duchamp - 'La Cheminée Anaglyphe' (Bozovic, 2017).

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Sources:
Hawkins, A., 2015. Meet Rrose Sélavy: Marcel Duchamp’s Female Alter Ego. [online] AnOther. Available at: <https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/8084/meet-rrose-selavy-marcel-duchamp-s-female-alter-ego> [Accessed 23 February 2021].
Bozovic, N., 2017. Famous Art Collaborations - Agora Gallery. [online] Agora Gallery - Advice Blog. Available at: <https://www.agora-gallery.com/advice/blog/2017/04/27/famous-art-collaborations/> [Accessed 23 February 2021].
Ozora, M., 2008. [online] Marinaoroza.com. Available at: <https://marinaoroza.com/content/03-textos/marina-oroza-duchamps-last-work-of-art.pdf> [Accessed 23 February 2021].
Academic-eb-com.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk. n.d. De Montfort University Library Services: Single Sign On to Library Resources. [online] Available at: <https://academic-eb-com.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk/levels/collegiate/article/Claude-Cahun/609952> [Accessed 23 February 2021].
Jones, J., 2001. Rrose Sélavy, Man Ray (1921). [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/oct/27/art.surrealismatthevanda> [Accessed 23 February 2021].