Man Ray: Photographs 1920-1934

New York and Hartford, CT: Random House / James Thrall Soby, 1934. Softcover. Second Edition. INSCRIBED by Man Ray just above the table of contents: "À Noma / ma mie / mon amie bien aimée / Man Ray" ("To Noma / my girlfriend / my darling friend / Man Ray"). Text in French and English.

"Noma" is likely Noma Copley, born Norma Rathner, a jewelry designer and person of note in French surrealist circles. Copley married her husband William (to whom she was introduced by Ray) in 1953, and their estate in Longpont-sur-Orge was a gathering space for avant-garde artists and writers in the interwar period. Noma served as a muse and close friend to Ray for many years.

A groundbreaking photography album, considered one of the definitive works on May Ray, featuring over 100 pages of the artist's photographs and "rayographs," alongside essays by his contemporaries.

Very Good plus in wrappers with a white comb binding. Moderate discoloration along the binding, with light creasing and rubbing on the wrappers. Housed in a custom quarter-leather pictorial clamshell box.

[Book #166323]