
Man Ray’s Photo of Nude Woman Sells for Record $12.4 Million
Man Ray's Le Violon d’Ingres, an iconic photo of a nude woman, has sold for $12.4 million, making it the most expensive photograph ever sold at auction.
Man Ray's Le Violon d’Ingres, an iconic photo of a nude woman, has sold for $12.4 million, making it the most expensive photograph ever sold at auction.
An iconic photo of a nude woman by artist and photographer Man Ray is poised to become the most expensive photo in the world. It will be auctioned by Christie's with an asking price of at least $5 million, a new recording asking price in the history of photo auctions.
Man Ray is today regarded as one of the most innovative photographers of the twentieth century. He reinvented solarization and further developed photograms, which he called "rayographs," in reference to himself. He also pioneered fashion photography in the 1920s-1940 in Paris but did not want to be known as a "photographer." He considered himself a painter and artist above all.
In the first week of April, the three major auction houses in New York managed to post over $30 million in photography sales, showing that the photography as collectible market is thriving, to say the least. The houses posted a record-setting week as almost every auction blew away projected sale prices.