Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky) - Noire et Blanche, 1926

Man Ray, Noire et Blanche, 1926.

'Copyright 2001 Man Ray Trust, Paris / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn' on the bottom back. Total dimensions: 36,5 x 28,2 cm on semi-gloss paper. Fine condition. Printed Lated, 2000's.

Created in 1926, Noire et Blanche is one of the definitive masterpieces of Surrealist photography and a landmark image in Man Ray’s oeuvre. The serene face of Kiki of Montparnasse, resting beside an African mask, brings together two of the artist’s primary concerns: the ambiguity of identity and the ability of photography to blur the boundaries between reality and imagination.

The contrast between Kiki’s pale skin and the gleaming dark mask creates a subtle but powerful doubling: dual identity, dual presence, dual origin. Far from being a simple portrait, the image operates as a meditation on psychology, the unconscious, and the Surrealist fascination with alterity. First published in Vogue, it instantly became a defining symbol of interwar Paris.

The photograph also reflects modernism’s dialogue with primitivism —Europe and Africa, whiteness and blackness, dream and waking life. The title, noire et blanche, reverses the expected order, emphasising the tension between visual reading and conceptual meaning. Man Ray even produced a negative version, reinforcing the idea of reflection and inversion.

Man Ray remains one of the central figures in 20th-century photography, alongside Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Werner Bischof, Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Alfred Stieglitz, Diane Arbus, Eve Arnold, Cindy Sherman, Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, Robert Mapplethorpe and Richard Avedon. Among these giants, Noire et Blanche stands out as one of the most refined and enigmatic visual statements of modernism.

A key piece for collectors of Surrealism, historic portraiture and avant-garde photography: conceptual elegance distilled into an unforgettable image.