Man Ray: Kiki

Man Ray photograph of Alice Prin, popularly known as Kiki de Montparnasse (1901–1953), depicts her with her back turned and nude to below the waist, a cloth draped around her hips, another around her head. Inspired by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres nudes from behind, Man Ray transposes the subject into the twentieth century, painting the f-holes of a violin on the photograph so as to turn Kiki back into the body of a stringed instrument. The print at Museum Ludwig comes from the Gruber Collection. Its exhibition explores the making and history of this masterpiece of Man Ray surrealism.