Man Ray Vierge apprivoisée / Domesticated Virgin (Let Me Out), 1969

Provenance
The Collection of 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.
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 iexample 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.

Condition
Sculpture is overall in excellent condition, with minor casting imperfections. Plexiglass box with minor scuffs and scratches due to age.

Man Ray also created a Silver version of La Vierge apprivoisee, executed in 1969 in an edition of 11 examples, plus artists proofs. The Bronze cast offered for sale was published in 1969 by Marcel Zerbib as an epreuve d’artiste also known as an Artist's Proof aside from the Silver version published in an edition of 11 examples.

Marcel Zerbib was a Gallerist and Publisher of numerous Man Ray Ready-Made editions. Marcel Zerbib published the book and exhibition: MAN RAY objets de mon affection, "MAN RAY objects of my affection", exhibite in 1968 d at Galerie Europe, Paris. Man Ray originally created the concept for his series of Ready Made objects in the 1920s; it was Marcel Zerbib’s initiative to turn them into a series of editions he published in the 1960s. As the title of the catalogue implies, these rare Ready-Mades and assemblages were particularly precious to Man Ray and he counted them among his favorites.

In this small and 1969 Surrealist Ready-Made object, Man Ray continues to provoke viewers by trapping a Bronze cast of a Nude Woman in a plexiglass box. The title in French Vierge apprivoisée translates as “Deprived Virgin” however Man Ray, the masterful American who was dextrous in both English and French, provides us with an alternative title in English: Domesticated Virgin - Let me out. No further comment necessary.

"These editions were made in the years when Man Ray enjoyed his first widespread public recognition (about the time when Arthur Brandt met the artist in Paris, through the introduction of the French art dealer Marcel Fleiss)."

- A Private Eye: Dada, Surrealism and More from the Brandt Collection, Andrea Inselmann