Kiki Man Ray: Art, Love and Rivalry in 1920s Paris by Mark Braude (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Kiki Man Ray: Art, Love and Rivalry in 1920s Paris by Mark Braude Virginie Ems-Bléneau Braude, Mark. Kiki Man Ray: Art, Love and Rivalry in 1920s Paris. W. W. Norton & Co, 2022. ISBN 978-1-324-00601-5. Pp. 304. Readers will certainly be intrigued by the title of this book. Was Kiki Man Ray a person, a little-known pseudonym of the famous American photographer, perhaps? Or will this book tell the story of two individuals, Kiki and Man Ray, two lovers––or rivals as suggested by the subtitle––two artists whose lives and contributions are so closely intertwined that even in crafting a title, the author did not, or could not, separate them. And yet, this book is perhaps better described as the story of an era, the interwar years, and more accurately, the story of a neighborhood and a people: the bohemian artists of Montparnasse. As astutely shown by Braude, Kiki and Man Ray embodied the heart and soul of that time and place. Kiki, born Alice Prin in a small town of Burgundy in 1901, is one of the most famous yet forgotten characters of interwar Paris. She is best known as the muse and lover of photographer Man Ray, and subject (or object) of his illustrious 1924 Violon d’Ingres: a photo of Kiki transformed into an instrument by affixing two black f-holes to her disrobed back. The two met in 1921; Kiki, a young model who had already posed for several aspiring artists such as Maurice Mendjizky (with whom she lived for three years) and more famously Moïse Kisling, caught the attention of Man Ray and a friend after making a scene in a restaurant. While Kiki had never posed for a photographer, she was immediately charmed by the confidence of this mysterious American man. Inspired by his friend Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray had moved to France in the hopes of joining the Dada movement as a painter, but as his photographs gained attention, he perfected this artform despite his own dreams. That is perhaps the root of their rivalry: while he helped increase her fame, leading many artists such as Tsuguharu Foujita, Kees Van Dongen or Per Krohg to paint her, she became a well-regarded artist of her own. She began performing in cabarets around Paris, but most importantly, she secured a solo art show in 1927 where she sold all her paintings, a feat that Man Ray never achieved. The couple entertained an eclectic crowd of avant-garde writers, musicians and artists: Desnos, Cocteau, Breton, Kisling, Krohg, Léger, and Picabia, to name a few. But this thrilling life had a dark side: depression, drugs, and alcohol consumed the couple as much as their passion. Their separation, along with the Wall Street crash of 1929, marked the end of an era, but also of their love and their fame. She spent the last twenty years of her life battling addiction while his depression took him to the edge of suicide. Kiki collapsed in front of her home at the age of 51, dying alone a mere shadow of her former glamourous self. This is the fascinating biography of two talented individuals who inhabited the short-lived utopia of the 1920s. [End Page 218] Virginie Ems-Bléneau Georgia Southern University Copyright © 2023 American Association of Teachers of French