An Oceanid dressed with a toga, Delphi, Greece 1930.
In Greek mythology, the Oceanids are nymphs primarily associated with the waters of their father Ocean. They are sometimes considered the nymphs of the inaccessible sea depths.
The Marchesa Luisa Casati was a major figure in early 20th-century European society. She left her mark on her time with her extravagance, her theatrical appearance, and her taste for the occult; giving large, lavish masked balls, she rubbed shoulders with both high society and avant-garde artists. Her eccentricities and beauty forged her reputation as a femme fatale and contributed to her celebrity. She became a legend among her contemporaries, notably by hosting the Ballets Russes. She amazed the audience by walking with cheetahs on leashes and wearing live snakes as jewelry.
Man Ray. The Marchesa Luisa Casati 1922
Man Ray. The Marchesa Luisa Casati 1922
Man Ray. The Marchesa Luisa Casati 1922
Madame D’Ora. The actress Léopoldine Konstantin 1917
Karl Struss. The actress Gloria Swanson in Why change your wife? 1920
Alfred Cheney Johnston. The Ziegfeld girl Martha Pierre as candlelight 1920s
Pearl dancers from Ballet of jewels 1926
The actress Brigitte Helm in Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang in 1927
Imogen Cunningham. The unmade bed 1957
Imogen Cunningham. The unmade bed 1957
« We will remain hidden from these dolls disarticulated, their limbs fragmented, stranded, like nauseous wrecks, rejected by these virtual ports, our anchor will hold away… » (DantéBéa)
Vassily Kandinsky. Mood line 1927
Atelier Nadar. The dancer Cléo de Mérode 1894
Paul Nadar. Two dancers 1895-1905.
In 1887, Félix Tournachon, known as Nadar, retired to his house in the Sénart forest, leaving his son Paul at the head of the famous studio he had created in the mid-1850s. To the refined and intimate official portraits of Félix, Paul preferred more complex scenographies, using accessories and sets that identified the person photographed in their role or professional capacity. Many actors and actresses paraded before his lens, reinterpreting scenes performed at the time in the greatest Parisian theaters.
Karl Struss. Dancers, Queens, Long Island, New-York 1915. Autochrome
Karl Struss. Dancers, Queens, Long Island, New-York 1915. Autochrome
William Mortensen. Meditation 1924
William Mortensen. The goddess Hecate 1926
William Mortensen. The goddess Hecate 1926
In Greek mythology, Hecate is a goddess of the moon, magic, and boundaries.
William Mortensen. Mary the sinner 1926
Florence Henri. Portrait composition with flowers 1930-1931
Florence Henri. Portrait composition with flowers 1930-1931
Florence Henri. Self-portrait 1928
Florence Henri. Self-portrait 1928
Florence Henri. Self-portrait 1928.
« Everything I know, and how I know it, is mainly made up of abstract elements: spheres, planes, and grids whose parallel lines offer many possibilities, not to mention the mirrors I use, to present the same object from several different angles within the same photograph, in order to produce, in the same way, different visions that complement and complement each other, and which, taken as a whole, are more likely to explain it. At bottom, all this is much more difficult to explain than to do. »
Unknown photographer. Mata Hari 1906
Unknown photographer. Mata Hari 1906
Gertrude Kasebier. The crystal gazer 1904
John Cimon Warburg. The dryad 1910. Autochrome
Emma Barton. Heather 1906. Photogravure
Emma Barton. The lily pond 1911. Autochrome
Emma Barton. The soul of the rose 1905
Emma Barton. The gardener’s daughter 1911
« We are so insignificant,
And my friend the rose
Told me so this morning.
At dawn I was born,
Baptized with dew.
I blossomed,
Happy and in love,
In the rays of the sun.
I closed myself off at night,
Woke up old.
Yet I was very beautiful,
Yes, I was the most beautiful
Of the flowers in your garden.
We are so insignificant,
And my friend the rose
Told me so this morning.
See the God who made me
Made me bow my head,
And I feel I’m falling,
And I feel I’m falling,
My heart is almost naked,
I have one foot in the grave.
Already I am no more.
You only admired me yesterday
And I I would be dust
Forever tomorrow.
We are so insignificant,
And my friend the rose
Died this morning.
The moon last night
Woke my friend awake.
In a dream, I saw,
Dazzling and naked,
Her soul dancing,
Far beyond the clouds
And smiling at me.
He who can believe, believes,
I need hope
Otherwise I am nothing.
We are so insignificant,
And my friend the rose
Told me this morning.
See the God who made me
Made me bow my head,
And I feel I’m falling,
And I feel I’m falling,
My heart is almost naked,
I have one foot in the grave.
Already I am no more.
You only admired me yesterday
And I would be dust
Forever tomorrow. »
The dancer Vaslav Nijinski in The Specter of the Rose 1911. Costume by Léon Bakst.
Léon Bakst. Costume designed for Vaslav Nijinski in The Specter of the Rose 1911
The dancer Vaslav Nijinski in The Specter of the Rose 1911. Costume by Léon Bakst.
The dancer Vaslav Nijinski in The Specter of the Rose 1911. Costume by Léon Bakst.
Barbara Ker-Seymer. Jean Cocteau 1931
Barbara Ker-Seymer. Jean Cocteau 1931
The dancer Olga Bontjes van Beek 1923
František Drtikol. Nude with necklace 1914
Frantisek Drtikol. Nude study 1925
František Drtikol. Nude study 1926
František Drtikol. Nude study 1927
František Drtikol. Nude study 1928
Ida Rubinstein as Saint Sebastian in The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian 1911. Text by Gabrielle D’Annunzio. Music by Claude Debussy. Choreography by Mikhail Fokine. Costume and set design by Léon Bakst.
Jeanne Mandello. Nude woman 1928
Jeanne Mandello. Nude study 1946-1947
Jeanne Mandello. Flowers in a vase 1950. Photogram
« I couldn’t live in any of the worlds they offered me: the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself after having been destroyed by life. This, I believe, is the reason for being of any work of art. » (Anaïs Nin)
Laura Gilpin. Narcissus 1928
Imogen Cunningham. Three harps 1935
Jeanne Mandello. Advertisement for Maggy Rou perfume 1935-1938
Ellen Auerbach. The dancer Renate Schottelius 1953
Annemarie Heinrich. The dancer Renate Schottelius 1952
John Cimon Warburg. A Watteau lady 1909. Autochrome
Constant Puyo. Portrait of a woman 1910
Constant Puyo. Symbolist portrait of a woman 1900
Constant Puyo. Young woman smiling 1900s. Color bichromated gum printed
Constant Puyo. The straw hat 1906
Autochrome Lumière. Young woman in a garden 1900s
Constant Puyo. Woman dressed as a sultana 1900s
Constant Puyo. Portrait in four colors 1904
Nobuko Tsuchiura. Doll between shadow and light 1938
Edward Steichen. Calla lily 1938
Ferdinand Flodin. The actress Greta Garbo 1923
Barbara Morgan. Growing corn stalks 1945
Adele Gloria. Untitled 1933.
Adele Gloria was the only female Futurist in Sicily. She distinguished herself in the field of aerial painting and the avant-garde in Catania in the early 1930s. A poet, photographer, painter, sculptor, and journalist, she was a « total » artist according to the canons of the Futurist movement.
Uno Falkengren. Three dancers (Anna Behle in the middle) 1917
Uno Falkengren. Three dancers (Anna Behle in the middle) 1917
Man Ray. The painter Karin van Leyden 1929
Man Ray. The painter Karin van Leyden 1929
Man Ray. The painter Karin van Leyden 1929
Man Ray. The painter Karin van Leyden 1929
Man Ray. The painter Karin van Leyden 1929
Man Ray. The painter Karin van Leyden 1929
Man Ray. The painter Karin van Leyden 1929
Ilse Bing. Gymnastic exercises 1930s
Ilse Bing. Catherine’s hands 1949
Max Ernst. Earth seen from Venus 1962. Oil on wooden panel
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1925
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1925
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1930
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1928
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1928
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1921
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1921
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1921
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1930
Man Ray. The actress Génica Athanasiou 1930
Man Ray. Suicide, Kiki de Montparnasse 1928
Man Ray. Quartet 1917
From Au hasard Balthazar directed by Robert Bresson in 1966
Alberto Burri. Red plastic 1961
Madame Yevonde. Lady Teynham 1960
Madame Yevonde. Lady Teynham 1960
Madame Yevonde. Lady Teynham 1960
Madame Yevonde. Lady Teynham 1960
Madame Yevonde. Janet Mary Fox-Pitt and Lady Teynham 1960
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1930
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1934
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1934
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1934
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1934
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1934
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard, suicide 1931
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1932
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1934
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1934
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1932
Edvard Munch. Model in studio 1902
« For it is to her that I always return through the thread of this limitless love, this universally widespread love. And craters grow in my hands, mazes of breasts grow there, explosive loves grow there that my life wins over my sleep. » (Antonin Artaud)
Man Ray. Dead leaf 1943.
Remarkable for its simplicity, this photograph of a brittle castor oil plant leaf appeared with four others by Man Ray in the October 1943 issue of Minicam Photography. In its caption, Man Ray wrote with unusually poignant intensity that he knew that “the dying leaf would completely disappear tomorrow.” One is tempted to interpret the work’s melancholy as the artist’s growing dissatisfaction with his lack of recognition and financial success in Los Angeles, and his fear that the work he had left behind in France would be destroyed during the war.
« Be a source. Light knows nothing of night, the sun knows no shadow, there are so many moons, many universes and their skies, realities play with illusion, keys know nothing of the lock » (Sophia Sherine Hutt)
Tribute to Laszlo Moholy Nagy.
László Moholy-Nagy is known for his participation in various avant-garde movements in the interwar period, in which he was associated with members of Dadaism, Constructivism, and De Stijl. He explored new photography techniques by designing photograms. At the request of the founder and director of the Bauhaus school, Walter Gropius, the artist became a teacher there in 1923, receiving the title of Master. He left the school in 1928 and moved to the United Kingdom in 1934. There, he continued his artistic experimentation and worked in advertising. In 1937, he moved to the United States to open the New Bauhaus school in Chicago.
Laszlo Moholy Nagy. Composition Z IV 1923
Laszlo Moholy Nagy. Composition Z IV 1923
Painted in 1923, Z IV demonstrates the artist’s characteristic innovative boldness, establishing a wonderful dialogue between the black diagonal bar and the abstract ray of light interspersed with vertical black lines and three colored dots. Moholy-Nagy was convinced that current art must be part of contemporary reality in order to convey meaning to its audience, which was in the grip of new technological advances. He therefore considered traditional figurative painting obsolete and turned to pure geometric abstraction, influenced by Russian constructivists such as Malevich and El Lissitsky. In this work, Moholy-Nagy explores a way of representing light on the painted canvas: the colored circles appear translucent when one plane is superimposed on the next, their hues changing accordingly. These intersecting, transparent forms read like converging beams of light.
Laszlo Moholy Nagy. Cat 1926. Gelatin silver print
Laszlo Moholy Nagy. Cat 1926. Gelatin silver print
Laszlo Moholy Nagy. Cat 1926
Laszlo Moholy Nagy. June summer 1925
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard as a nun 1931. Solarization
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard as a nun 1931. Solarization
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard as a nun 1931. Solarization
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard as a nun 1931
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard as a nun 1931
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard as a nun 1931
« Solitude, as I understand it, does not signify an unhappy state, but rather secret royalty, profound incommunicability yet a more or less obscure knowledge of an invulnerable singularity »(Jean Genet)
Vassily Kandinsky. Circles in the circle 1923.
This painting reflects his unwavering belief that certain shapes and colors represent emotions that can be coded and brought together into a whole, reflecting the unity of the universe.
Twenty-six intersecting circles of varying sizes and shades are surrounded by the black circle, several of which are connected by straight black lines. Two beams of yellow and blue light emanating from the upper corners intersect toward the center, altering the colors of the circles as they meet.
The artist states: « A circle is a combination of the most extreme opposites. Combining the eccentric and the concentric into a single shape and balancing it with another. » The black outer circle, as if it were the second image, focuses on the interaction between the inner circles, as well as two diagonal bands that intersect to enhance the effect of perspective in the composition.
Man Ray. Jacqueline Goddard 1932
DantéBéa 