About This Image

Annotation 'Russell H. Greeley' in pencil, and inscription 'He was noted for his/expressive hands. They were cast in bronze/from this photo for a museum in Paris' by Russell H. Greeley's niece in ink on the verso of the print. Provenance: Russell H. Greeley (1878-1956), by descent; Christie's NY.

Another similar print of this same image sold for $68,750 in the Sotheby's, New York sale of 175 Masterworks to Celebrate 175 Years of Photography: Property from Joy of Giving Something Foundation (December 11-12, 2014, lot 76) with the title, Harry Melvill. New research, based on the inscription on the verso of the present print, indicates that the subject of this portrait is probably Russell H. Greeley.

Greeley, a wealthy Bostonian whose family founded the New York Tribune, owned the Château de Clavary beginning in 1925. At this grand castle in the French commune of Auribeau-sur-Siagne, Greeley and his companion, artist François de Gouy d’Arcy, hosted lavish parties throughout the 1920s and 30s where avant-garde artists such as Picasso, Man Ray, Fernand Léger and Tristan Tzara were frequent guests. Man Ray took numerous photos of this castle and its grounds at nearly the same time as this portrait was made. Man Ray also took other portraits of Greeley in this same time period (circa 1922), which appear to resemble the man in this photograph (See: Christie's May 19, 2016 auction for another portrait of Greeley by Man Ray).

See: Alex Novak, For the Love of the Image: A Selection of 110 Photographs, p.42, pl.45.

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