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Elena Vaninetti

Study for “Auriélien” (1944) is a photomontage by Man Ray, inspired by Aragon’s novel, referencing the death mask of “L’Inconnue de la Seine.” It transforms the serene image of death into a surreal meditation on identity, fragmentation, and desire — one of Man Ray’s most striking late surrealist works:

Original photogravure (heliogravure) on strong highest quality paper.
Edited by Gruppo Editoriale Electa, Milano 1981.
Typographically credited and numbered on separate sheet (enclosed as a copy) (412/1000).
In very fine condition (with original tissue guard).
Registered shipping

Context:
Man Ray created this haunting image as part of his surrealist dialogue with Aragon’s novel Aurélien, which explores themes of disillusionment, love, and loss in post–World War I Paris.

Technique:
Man Ray assembled the face by combining three strips of photographic prints that don’t align perfectly.
The eyes belong to one print, slightly displaced.
The nose and mouth come from others.
The misalignment produces an uncanny, almost death-mask quality.
This is a deliberate surrealist gesture — fragmentation as a metaphor for psychic or emotional fracture.

Reference:
It refers to the “L’Inconnue de la Seine”, the famous death mask of an unidentified young woman who drowned in the River Seine around 1880. Her serene face became an icon of beauty and death, widely reproduced in art and literature (and later used for the face of the first CPR mannequin, Resusci Anne).

Symbolism
The strip across the eyes → blindness, disconnection, or emotional distance.
The faint, static smile → recalls both photographic portraiture and mortuary masks.
The overall disjunction → mirrors Aragon’s protagonist Aurélien, who cannot reconcile the real and the ideal, love and loss.

Photogravure - Not signed

Man Ray (1890–1976) - Study for “Aurélien” (1944)

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Elena Paraskeva

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Arnold Mariashin

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Man Ray (1890–1976) - Study for “Aurélien” (1944)

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