Elsa Schiaparelli

© Man Ray Trust/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2021

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Elsa Schiaparelli

by Man Ray
gelatin silver print, circa 1930
11 1/4 in. x 7 1/2 in. (285 mm x 190 mm) image size
Purchased with support from Chuck Close in honour of Sandy Nairne, 2016
Primary Collection
NPG P2019

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky) (1890-1976), Photographer and artist. Artist or producer associated with 23 portraits, Sitter in 16 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Renowned for her form-fitting wrap around dresses, Schiaparelli appears wearing one of her own creations. During this period Man Ray was arguably at the height of his Surrealist powers. The negative of this photograph in the Centre Pompidou proves that this is a unique print. To make the gridded bars visible across the image, he exposed the picture multiple times under the enlarger, each time masking part of the image to vary the intensity of exposure.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • 100 Photographs, 2018, p. 64 Read entry

    The avant-garde fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973), shown here at around the time she opened her influential boutique in London in 1933, was one of Man Ray’s models and artistic collaborators. Renowned for her form-fitting, wrap-around dresses, she appears wearing one of her own creations. During this period, Man Ray (1890-1976) was arguably at the height of his Surrealist powers. To make the gridded bars visible across the image, he exposed the picture multiple times under the enlarger, each time masking part of the image to vary the intensity of exposure.

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Events of 1930back to top

Current affairs

Amy Johnson is the first woman to fly solo to Australia. She flew the 11,000 miles from Croydon to Darwin in a De Havilland Gipsy Moth named Jason and won the Harmon Trophy as well as a CBE for her achievement. She went on to break a number of other flying records, and died while serving in the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1941.

Art and science

Noel Coward's play, Private Lives is first performed. The original run starred Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier as well as Coward himself. Private Lives became Coward's most enduringly successful play.

International

Gandhi leads the Salt March. The march to the coast was a direct protest against the British monopoly on the sale of salt and inspired hordes of Indians to follow him and adopt his methods of Satyagraha (non-violent resistance to the British rule of India).
Stalin orders the 'liquidation of the kulaks (wealthy farmers) as a class' in a violent attempt to centralise control of agriculture and collectivise farming.

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