Portrait of Marie-Laure de Noailles.

B/w silver print, 22,8 x 17 cm, mounted on thick paper, signed in pencil on the lower margin, stamp Man Ray on verso.

Intriguing portrait of Marie-Laure de Noailles, Vicomtesse de Noailles (1902-1970), by the American visual artist Man Ray (1890-1976). He produced major works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all. He was best known for his photography and was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. Marie-Laure de Noailles was born Marie-Laure Henriette Anne Bischoffsheim and married, after a brief romance with Jean Cocteau, Charles, Vicomte de Noailles. She was a French artist and regarded one of the 20th century's most daring and influential patrons of the arts, noted for her associations with Salvador Dalí, Balthus, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Francis Poulenc, etc. and her philandering with younger artists such as Edward James, Igor Markevitch, Oscar Dominguez etc. She and her husband also practiced large-scale patronage and gathered a very important collection of works of art, both ancient and modern. So far we could not trace another copy of this rare and fascinating portrait.