NEW YORK, NY.- Swann Auction Galleries of New York are to sell this original drawing, part of an extraordinary collaboration between two of the giants of the Surrealist Movement.
Having become close friends over the previous three years, the French poet Paul Eluard and American artist, photographer and film maker Man Ray got together in 1937 to produce an illustrated book of poetry titled Les Mains Libres (Hands free), exploring Surrealist philosophy and perceptions of the world, including the concept of automatic drawing, from which the collection took its title.
This drawing is a signed and dated 1937 variant on an earlier, 1936 drawing used to illustrate the poem La Femme Portative from the second half of the work.
The designs in the book predate the poems, a fact reflected in the book’s subtitle, which translates as Man Ray Drawings illustrated with poems by Paul Eluard.
The drawing will appear in the September 29 Illustration Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries’ New York saleroom, where it will carry an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000.
