Beschreibung:

Title: Man Ray: Photographs 1920-1934 Paris. With a Portrait by Picasso, Texts by André Breton Paul Eluard Rrose Sélavy, Tristan Tzara Preface by Man Ray Author: Man Ray Place: Hartford Publisher: James Thrall Soby Date: No date [1934] Description: [6] pp. + 104 gravure plates and 2 additional leaves of text. (4to) 12x9½, somewhat later red buckram with gilt spine title, original glossy pictorial wrappers bound in. Text in English and French. Second Edition. Inscribed by Man Ray on title page: "To George Hodel from Man Ray 1949." Cliché-verre silverprint bookplate: "1948 Greetings from Juliet and Man Ray" to front pastedown. An intriguing association copy; Dr. George Hodel was a Hollywood physician in the 1940s and 50s who was recently accused in a book by his own son (Black Dahlia Avenger, Arcade Publishing, 2003, by Steve Hodel) of being “The Black Dahlia" murderer. Probably the most famous unsolved murder in California history. In 1947 Elizabeth Short, a 22-year old waitress, was slain - her body cut in half and brutally mutilated. Dr. Hodel was under investigation for nearly a month in 1950 by the LAPD in connection with the crime, though he was never charged. According to Steve Hodel, the odd positioning of “The Black Dahlia's" corpse was in imitation of the pose of the nude female model in Man Ray's photograph "The Minotaur." Other researchers have scoffed at this assertion, even calling into question whether Dr. Hodel could have seen the Man Ray image. Man Ray was himself a resident of Los Angeles for a few years until 1951 and this inscription would clearly indicate the two men had met. "The Minotaur" is not included in this "Photographs 1920-1934 Paris" collection. Lot Amendments Condition: Buckram covers and original wrappers a bit scuffed; minor wear overall to pages, but about very good. Item number: 175326