Man Ray's Enigmatic Photograph at Paris Photo 2019

At Paris Photo 2019, held at the Grand Palais from November 7 to 10, the Galerie Françoise Paviot presented a vintage Man Ray photograph, 'Portrait of a Half-Hidden Man With Expressive Hands (Russell H. Greeley)', circa 1930. The image depicts an unidentified man with delicate hands posed like a mannequin's, a black paper sheet masking his neck and lower face, and intense eyes staring from the top. The surrealist work, described as both theatrical and intimate, was highlighted in artpress's 'panier' feature, fictively acquired by Charles-Arthur Boyer. Man Ray was a central figure at the fair, with Gagosian and 1900-2000 galleries collaborating on a near-museum-quality exhibition, while other dealers competed with rare finds.