Lise Deharme as the queen of spades

Man Ray, born Emanuel Randnitsky in Philadelphia in 1890, is without doubt one of the most influential avant-garde artists of the twentieth century. Although Man Ray commenced his artistic career as a painter, it wasn’t long before he turned his talent to photography, and it is ultimately his innovative and dramatic surrealist photographs for which he is best known today. Relocating to Paris in 1921, Man Ray spent the following two decades of his career immersed in the avant-garde art scene of the day, associating with the likes of Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro.

One of a suite of four works, the photo-montage depicts celebrated female surrealist artists of his circle as figures from a deck of cards – Jacqueline Lamba, Nusch Eluard, Valentine Hugo and Lise Deharme. As an accomplished and important surrealist writer, Deharme made significant contributions to the movement, although for many years her contribution to surrealism was overlooked, being primarily remembered as the muse of André Breton, the so-called father of surrealism. The Gallery’s version of this work has an illustrious provenance and can be traced to the sitter’s personal collection.

Tansy Curtin, Curator, International Art pre–1980