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Mon premier amour

Mon premier amour

Man Ray (in 1952)

Ask anything

  • mauro asked

    hi, I read this masterpiece is travelling, where?

  • Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen answered

    Hi Mauro, At this moment the painting is on view in the MUDEC in Milan; Sunday July 30th will be the last day. It is part of the traveling exhibition of our collection of Surrealist art. From October 7th, the painting will be on display in AROS museum in Aarhus (Denmark). Kind regards, Els

  • Marcela asked

    Good afternoon
    I would like to know if possible to buy a reproduction of Mon premier Amour
    Thank you so much

  • Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen answered

    Dear Marcela,
    Unfortunately we currently do not have a museum shop where you can buy posters or other items. But there are many (online) stores where you can buy posters of artworks. Good luck with the search! Sofie

  • Maura Kehoe Collins asked

    Hello, when and how did the painting enter the Boijmans collection?

  • Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen answered

    Dear Maura,
    This work was a gifted to the museum in 1972 by the artist Man Ray himself.
    Best regards,
    Frederieke

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More information

'Mon Premier Amour' is one of the larger paintings by Man Ray from the early 'fifties. In addition, it is also a rare example of geometric abstraction in the work of this artist. The model for the painting is inspired by collages of coloured paper and airbrush paintings. He used the latter technique mainly in the period between 1917 and 1920. The title of the work, which translates as 'My first love', is probably a reference to this technique, which he used early in his career.

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Collection book

Collection book Order

Specifications

Title Mon premier amour
Material and technique Oil on canvas
Object type
Painting > Painting > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location This object is in storage
Dimensions Height 189 cm
Width 219 cm
Artists Artist: Man Ray
Accession number 2797 (MK)
Credits Gift Man Ray, 1972
Department Modern Art
Acquisition date 1972
Creation date in 1952
Entitled parties © Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2018
Provenance Artist’s collection
Exhibitions Rotterdam/Paris/Humlebaek 1971-72; Frankfurt/Basel 1980; Cologne 1989; Antwerp 1994; London 1995; Rotterdam 1996a; Rotterdam 1998a; Rotterdam 2010; Rotterdam 2013-14a; Rotterdam 2017b
Internal exhibitions Een paraplu, een naaimachine en een ontleedtafel. Surrealisme à la Dalí in Rotterdam. (2013)
Collectie - surrealisme (2017)
External exhibitions A Surreal Shock – Masterpieces from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (2021)
Surrealist Art - Masterpieces from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (2021)
Man Ray (2018)
Only the Marvelous is Beautiful (2022)
A Surreal Shock. Masterpieces from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (2023)
Dal nulla al sogno (2018)
Dalí, Magritte, Man Ray and Surrealism. Highlights from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (2023)
Research Show research A dream collection - Surrealism in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Literature Rotterdam/Paris/Humlebaek 1971-72, pp. 15, 123, cat. no. 44; Penrose 1975, pp. 178-79, fig. 119; Schwarz 1977, p. 124, fig. 207; Man Ray/J. Man Ray/Foresta 1988, p. 203
Material
Object
Geographical origin The United States of America > North America > America

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Entry catalogue A dream collection - Surrealism in Museum Boijmans Van beuningen

Author: Marijke Peyser

In the autumn of 1971 Renilde Hammacher-Van den Brande, then senior curator of modern art at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, staged the first retrospective of Man Ray’s work in the Netherlands.[1] In total 287 works were shown, ranging from paintings, collages, drawings, watercolours, gouaches, objects and rayographs to cliché verres, books and prints. The exhibition gave an impression of the eclecticism of the oeuvre. In the catalogue published to accompany the exhibition, Hammacher described the artist thus: ‘Man Ray is one of the most audacious pioneers of the art of our time’.[2]

In the museum’s archives there is an extensive exchange of letters about the exhibition between the curator and the artist.[3] Back and forth they corresponded in French about loans, transporting art and financial matters. When the exhibition closed, Hammacher wrote to Man Ray: ‘I told my director (J.C. Ebbinge Wubben) that you were minded to give your large canvas “Mon Premier Amour” to the museum. He was very moved by your intention. Your gift is accepted with thanks. This important work will receive a place of honour in the new wing of the museum which will open next year.’[4]

Mon premier amour is a rare geometric abstract canvas in the artist’s oeuvre, with colourful surfaces overlapping like a collage. The title refers to a statement by Man Ray: ‘Having tried a dozen jobs, I have returned to my first love, painting, and I have remained faithful to her ever since.[5] In this work the artist used collage and aerography, two techniques in which he was already very experienced. Man Ray had already employed the collage technique in his earliest works. One good example is the series Revolving Doors (1916-17) which is made up of pieces of paper attached to a paper base. In the same period he experimented with aerography: spraying on colour to achieve a soft photographic effect (see also The Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows).[6] In the oil painting Mon premier amour the colour was applied with a spray usually used for insecticide, after which Man Ray smoothed out the paint with a palette knife.[7]

The work on paper in the museum’s collection is a preliminary study for the oil painting. Immediately after Man Ray’s generous gift, Hammacher wrote to the artist that ‘the museum would be delighted to purchase more work, in particular the collage “Mon premier amour” [sic], which would go together so splendidly with the large painting’.[8] Man Ray agreed, and the purchase was made in the same year, 1972.

 

Footnotes

[1] After Rotterdam, the exhibition went on to the Musée nationale d’Art moderne, Paris (January-February 1972) and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark (March-April 1972).

[2] Rotterdam/Paris/Humlebaek 1971-72, p. 5.

[3] MBVB Archives, Man Ray object file, Mon premier amour.

[4] Letter of 18 November 1971.

[5] Bourgeade 1972, p. 137.

[6] Schwarz 1980, p. 43.

[7] Ibid., p. 131.

[8] Letter from Renilde Hammacher-Van den Brande to Man Ray, dated 18 November 1972, MBVB Archives, Man Ray object file, Mon premier amour.

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