Footnotes

• Andrew Strauss and Timothy Baum of the Man Ray Expertise Committee have confirmed the authenticity of this work and that it will be included in the Catalogue of Objects & Sculptures of Man Ray, currently in preparation.
  
  Provenance
  Artcurial, Paris.
  Acquired from the above by the present owner on October 10, 1989.
  
  Literature:
  J. H. Martin, R. Krauss & Brigitte Hermann, Man Ray: Objets de Mon Affection, Sculptures, Objets, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1983, p. 165 (catalogued).
  
  The present lot was executed in 1971, and published in an edition of eight by the now-dissolved Artcurial gallery, one of several recognized fabricators of Man Ray sculptural editions from the HERMA/HERMA(PHRODITE) series.
  
  Man Ray's abstracted, streamlined human form emphasizes a Modernist aesthetic while referencing Classical sculpture in a myriad of ways. The material of fine white marble, subject matter of the nude, and even the title create allusions linking this artwork to the visual history and traditions of antiquity. Herma may refer to architectural pillars of ancient Greece comprised of a rectangular stone form topped with a carved head, used as boundary markers or signposts. The multi-layered title's linguistic nuances are open to interpretation.
  
  The alternate title of HERMA(PHRODITE) harks to the canonical image of the "Sleeping Hermaphrodite," a sculptural motif established during the Hellenistic period. The original bronze version is noted in Pliny's Natural History. The most famous extant example is part of the Borghese Collection and on display at the Musée du Louvre, Paris. In 1620, Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini carved the marble cushion upon which this Imperial Roman copy lies.