Man Ray - Jean Cocteau - Barbette - 1988

In 1926 the renowned artist and photographer Man Ray captured the Texan acrobat and gender-transcendent performer Barbette (born Vander Clyde Broadway) in a series of portraits that have become iconic. Commissioned by the surrealist writer Jean Cocteau, who regarded Barbette as a masterwork of theatrical professionalism, the photos document the careful transformation of the artist from man to trapeze diva.

Man Ray took several photos of Barbette while she was getting ready, wearing wigs, or posing with corsets and feathers, highlighting her androgynous physique. Among the best-known photos are Barbette Dressing (on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Barbette Making Up, housed in the J. Paul Getty Museum.

These photographs are considered groundbreaking in the study of queer and gender identity and capture the essence of an artist who enchanted 1920s Paris with performances in famous venues such as the Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergère. The images illustrated Cocteau's influential essay, "Le numéro Barbette," published in La Nouvelle Revue Française in 1926.