MAN RAY photographer signed autograph letter Erik Satie

  

Signed autograph document, without place or date [September 1965]. 1 page in-4, headed paper. Rare autograph from Man Ray on the margin of a letter addressed to him requesting permission to reproduce one of his works. Would you be so kind as to grant me permission to reproduce the portrait of E. Satie that appears in your autobiography facing page 112, to adorn a small work dedicated to this composer.

I am trying to gather his correspondence, and if you have anything, [thank you] for sharing its content and any other documents or information regarding him. Man Ray, the assurance of my best sentiments." Man Ray responds in the margin. I have no other memories than the passage in my "Autoportrait" page 112.

(1) Pierre Aelberts, a Belgian publisher, famous for publishing the writings of Erik Satie in the 1950s. Man Ray met Satie in December 1921 when the American photographer had just arrived in France for his first Paris exhibition, not speaking a word of French. In his autobiography "Autoportrait" (published in 1963), Man Ray recounts that on this occasion, Satie helped him buy materials to quickly compose a new work that he exhibited that very evening: "We left the café, and then we entered a shop that displayed all kinds of household utensils in the window. I noticed an iron - the kind used on coal stoves - asked Satie to come in, and with his help, I bought a box of upholstery tacks and a tube of glue. Back in the gallery, I glued a row of tacks onto the flat side of the iron; I titled the whole thing.

And I added it to the exhibition. It was the first Dada object I made in France." This work, stolen during the exhibition, remains one of Man Ray's most famous installations. Professional dealer, certificate of authenticity available upon request.