Tag: 1920s

Adam et Eve; tableau vivant

Man Ray :: Ciné-Sketch; Adam and Eve (Marcel Duchamp and Bronia Perlmutter), 1924. Gelatin silver print, on carte postale, printed in the 1930s. | src Christie’s & Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philamuseum)

In 1924 Francis Picabia asked Bronia to participate in a production, Ciné Sketch, that he and René Clair were putting on after the Relache ballet on New Year’s Eve. Bronia agreed, and she and Marcel Duchamp appeared nude —Duchamp did have a strategically placed fig leaf— in a living tabloid of Lucas Cranach’s Adam and Eve, which Man Ray photographed.

Ciné Sketch (1924) was a theatrical diversion conceived by Francis Picabia and René Clair, in which Marcel Duchamp and the Jewish-Polish model Bronia Perlmutter mime the figures of Adam and Eve in a tableau vivant of the Temptation after a painting by Cranach. Ciné-Sketch was performed only once, at the conclusion of Relache (by Ballets Suédois) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on New Year’s Eve 1924.

Agniel posing for de Mirjian · 1929

De Mirjian Studio ~ Marguerite Agniel posing with her back arched and legs stretched out over her head, wearing a two-piece costume and matching turban, in studio, 1929 | src Wellcome library
De Mirjian Studios ~ Marguerite Agniel posing with her back arched, feet and knees over her head, wearing a two-piece costume and matching turban, shot in studio, 1929 | src Wellcome library
John de Mirjian ~ Marguerite Agniel leaning on her shoulders (knees over her head), ca. 1929 | src Wellcome collection
De Mirjian Studios~ Marguerite Agniel posing leaning back, circa 1929 | src Wellcome library collection
John de Mirjian ~ Marguerite Agniel posing leaning back wearing a two-piece costume and matching turban, photographed in studio, 1929 | src Wellcome library collection
John de Mirjian ~ Marguerite Agniel seated in a Buddha position, wearing a two-piece costume and matching turban, photographed in studio, ca. 1929 | src Wellcome library
John de Mirjian Studios ~ Marguerite Agniel seated in a Buddha position, circa 1929. | src Wellcome collection

Ruth Page by G.M. Kesslere

George Maillard Kesslère ~ Ruth Page in an Oriental dance number in the Music Box Revue, 1922 (original size)
George Maillard Kesslère ~ Ruth Page in an Oriental dance number in the Music Box Revue, 1922 | src flickr