Photograph or Moving Image by ForeignPhotographer/Artist
Inventory Number
82-PHF-235
Spilling from the large eyes are not giant tears, but glass balls. The theme of the work is “false tears,” and it is said that Man Ray made it to spite a former lover. Man Ray apparently liked it so much that he made several versions—one with an entire face (with four glass beads on each cheek) and others that were close-ups of the left eye or right eye (this work). The left eye version was used as the frontispiece of his photo book. If the tears are “false,” one wonders if the face, with its thickly mascaraed eyes, is that of a mannequin. That is one theory, but if you look closely it is clear the model here is a real woman. The most plausible theory is she was a French cancan dancer. (MATSUNAGA Shintaro)
Spilling from the large eyes are not giant tears, but glass balls. The theme of the work is “false tears,” and it is said that Man Ray made it to spite a former lover. Man Ray apparently liked it so much that he made several versions—one with an entire face (with four glass beads on each cheek) and others that were close-ups of the left eye or right eye (this work). The left eye version was used as the frontispiece of his photo book.
If the tears are “false,” one wonders if the face, with its thickly mascaraed eyes, is that of a mannequin. That is one theory, but if you look closely it is clear the model here is a real woman. The most plausible theory is she was a French cancan dancer.
(MATSUNAGA Shintaro)