Man Ray-Homage to D.A.F De Sade 1933Man Ray’s fine piece of Surrealist provocation Homage to D.A.F De Sade combines eroticism with blasphemy. The photograph is a knowing nod to De Sade’s proclivities while the inverted cross is a reference to De Sade’s ferocious anti-clericalism.
He was condemned to death in absentia as well as his ‘faithful’ man servant Latour and his effigy was burnt… His life was one rip roaring escapade after another
I have to defend the Marquis here which is very difficult as I his longer works horrible and certainly is behaviour was in certain cases wrong. However although he was a member of a protected caste (until the revolution anyway) he also had powerful enemies and in total he spent 37 years in prison and asylums including decades when he was locked up to protect his in-laws good name or just because Napoleon didn’t like him. His few genuine crimes were a false imprisonment charge with blasphemous implications
and an orgy that got out of hand.
This is why I say – I have read what he allegedly did. All the satanism etc….. is written by not him but other people. Yes, he clearly wasn’t afraid of taboo subjects – does this make him evil, insane. He was indeed a revolutionary.
He was constantly outraged and he could be very unpleasant. Every regime locked him up, monarchical, republican and imperial, probably no system of government could allow his constant provocations
Sorry that reply isn’t complete, so yes heavy shit but although he committed every conceivable crime in his imagination in real life no. There is a welter of solid biographical information about De Sade, including the heavy police surveillance reports of him, so some of the wilder legends about him are just that, legends. And when the revolution did come he didn’t take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the chaos, he lived a quiet life with his devoted mistress and even saved the life of his hated mother-in-law, he was one of the first and most eloquent campaigners against the death penalty. So a sexual obsessive yes but not a monster.
No – you are not at all. I actually had similar thoughts that he got a bad rap. I was always drawn to what I thought was his darkness but I see that as something more real now- not dark as in evil but enlightening . It is hard to explain…. The winners write history and that doesn’t make it the truth at all… Sexual perversion isn’t a great quality but neither is perversion of humanity. Sex is a natural act – without it- no one would be on this planet. We are a curious species. Forever experimenting , seeking, wanting, feeling.
![LWkxBlp[1]](https://cakeordeathsite.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/lwkxblp1.jpg?w=656)
cakeordeathsite 
In the 1700s, it’s a miracle he managed to avoid the guillotine
LikeLiked by 1 person
He was condemned to death in absentia as well as his ‘faithful’ man servant Latour and his effigy was burnt… His life was one rip roaring escapade after another
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I just read that in the introduction. It amazes that he eluded more drastic punishment!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well he was aristocracy and the providence he so firmly denied always managed to save him at the last minute
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ironic
LikeLiked by 1 person
But he had powerful enemies as well that’s why he spent most of his life banged up
LikeLiked by 1 person
And actually pretty controversial for Man Ray! Any fallout from this photograph?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not that I know of… Man Ray had already done a number of controversial works by the date
LikeLiked by 1 person
Remember Mappelthorpe and The Piss Christ controversy?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes but we had become too blase by then… Controversy had become a means of advertisement by then
LikeLiked by 1 person
What I meant was… Look at the uproar over that piece all those decades after Man Ray. Would have thought his art would have raised more of a fuss.
LikeLiked by 1 person
True… Don’t forget that Man Ray was based in Paris at the time and the French are, well very French about such things
LikeLiked by 1 person
Are you still awake, Night Manager?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is 1:45 pm here I will have a nap soon
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sweet dreams (or at least interesting ones) NM!
LikeLike
And you’re right, Americans are much more easily scandalized. Not including myself, of course!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s not a bad thing. The French are unique in their tolerance of all things in the matter of the heart
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am not a fan of Mapplethorpe, I like a bit of provocation but he always seemed to be trying too hard
LikeLiked by 1 person
Without a doubt. I’m not a fan either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am a modernist but not a post modernist
LikeLiked by 1 person
I read a book on this guy and what he allegedly did and got away with. WOOOH! Some heavy Sh**
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have to defend the Marquis here which is very difficult as I his longer works horrible and certainly is behaviour was in certain cases wrong. However although he was a member of a protected caste (until the revolution anyway) he also had powerful enemies and in total he spent 37 years in prison and asylums including decades when he was locked up to protect his in-laws good name or just because Napoleon didn’t like him. His few genuine crimes were a false imprisonment charge with blasphemous implications
and an orgy that got out of hand.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is why I say – I have read what he allegedly did. All the satanism etc….. is written by not him but other people. Yes, he clearly wasn’t afraid of taboo subjects – does this make him evil, insane. He was indeed a revolutionary.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He was constantly outraged and he could be very unpleasant. Every regime locked him up, monarchical, republican and imperial, probably no system of government could allow his constant provocations
LikeLike
Sorry that reply isn’t complete, so yes heavy shit but although he committed every conceivable crime in his imagination in real life no. There is a welter of solid biographical information about De Sade, including the heavy police surveillance reports of him, so some of the wilder legends about him are just that, legends. And when the revolution did come he didn’t take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the chaos, he lived a quiet life with his devoted mistress and even saved the life of his hated mother-in-law, he was one of the first and most eloquent campaigners against the death penalty. So a sexual obsessive yes but not a monster.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly. I actually agree with you 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you sorry I didn’t mean to be argumentative
LikeLiked by 1 person
No – you are not at all. I actually had similar thoughts that he got a bad rap. I was always drawn to what I thought was his darkness but I see that as something more real now- not dark as in evil but enlightening . It is hard to explain…. The winners write history and that doesn’t make it the truth at all… Sexual perversion isn’t a great quality but neither is perversion of humanity. Sex is a natural act – without it- no one would be on this planet. We are a curious species. Forever experimenting , seeking, wanting, feeling.
LikeLike
He did get a bad rap, though I wouldn’t want to live in the Sadeian universe, eternal and infernal.
LikeLike