Los Angeles, California
December 29, 2016
1969 MAN RAY MINOTAUR HOMAGE TO HIS GOOD FRIEND, DR. GEORGE HILL HODEL
(Left) Man Ray 1969 Lithograph depicting posed female body, her face covered with blood and blood flowing out of her upper torso to form the body and legs of the Minotaur. (The Minotaur, was the mythological, half-man-half-bull creature imprisoned in the Labyrinth, on the island of Crete who prayed and fed upon young maidens. Man Ray and the other surrealists adopted The Minotaur as their pet symbol and even named their magazine after him.
(Right) Shows original 1947 crime scene photo of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short with head and upper torso superimposed into Man Ray lithograph. The 1969 poster created some twenty-two years after the crime, is Man Ray’s recognition of his crime and a return homage to his good friend of decades earlier, Dr. George Hill Hodel, aka, The Minotaur. (Man Ray and Hodel’s friendship lasted a full decade in Hollywood from 1940-1950)
1947 DR. GEORGE HODEL MINOTAUR HOMAGE TO HIS GOOD FRIEND, MAN RAY
Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short’s body seen posed at the crime scene by George Hodel. The surgical trauma to her face and body was meant to mimic Man Ray’s two most famous artworks: MINOTAUR & LES AMOUREUX (THE LOVERS LIPS) (trauma/cuttings to body airbrushed over)
A few days ago, while conducting some research on the Internet, I chanced upon a Man Ray lithograph, that I had never seen.It was a poster announcing an upcoming Man Ray Exhibition, “Les Invendables” (The Unsaleables) to be held at the Galerie Alphonse Chave, in Vence, France. The exhibit ran for two months, in April and May 1969.
Photo of Alphonse Chave Gallery (Coincidentally and ironically the art gallery was founded in 1947, the same year as the murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short.)
1969 MAN RAY – Les Invendables catalog
Further searches led me to the discovery of an on-line original 1969 brochure/catalog featuring the exhibit, which included an introduction by Man Ray written in French.
Mssr. Yves Person, Paris, France 2015
On December 27, 2016, I sent the below short email to my good friend, Yves Person in Paris, asking if he might translate Man Ray’s words. (Yves is the high school teacher who “cracked the Zodiac cipher” after discovering that George Hodel used the ancient Celtic “tree alphabet” OGHAM to sign his name (“HODEL”) in an authenticated cipher he mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1970. (See Most Evil (Rare Bird Books 2015) Chapter 10 for complete details of Mssr. Person’s decryption and solving of the Zodiac cipher.)
My Email to YP:
Yves:
Between gradings could you take a peek at the attached text which Man Ray wrote for the 1969 catalog Les Invendables. Anything there of interest? How do you interpret the name he uses? The unsellables? Meaning works that he would not or could not sell? Or works that did not sell? Any clue in his written text? (attached)
Best, Steve
YP’s response with translation:
Steve,
As I translated it in a previous message, “les invendables” means : “things that couldn’t be sold”. One says : “C’est invendable !” to speak of something too ugly or too damaged for someone to sell it.
Yves then provided the translation of Man Ray’s words:
“The unsalable // Why ? Because the name is the only thing which is for sale. Without a signature, the picture is worthless. You must buy (take) them both (away) (at the same time). Some people turn the painting backward to see if it’s made out of a good and fine linen canvas. / The painter handle his hairy stick as the barber does with his shaving brush, as the musician does with his bow, and as the soldier does with his machine gun ; and so they handle. their sex to pee or to make love. / Truth ? Nothing more subversive than truth. ”
MAN RAY
Now, deal with that…
Best, Y.
We now know that Man Ray, William Copley and Marcel Duchamp, each created their own separate artwork to acknowledge and pay homage (post-crime) to Dr. George Hill Hodel’s “Surreal Masterpiece.”
Seen below, Juliet Man Ray with her “Three Amigos” Man Ray, William Copley, and Marcel Duchamp.Photo taken on board the S.S. De Grasse, prior to its departure for Paris, March 12, 1951
The Homage Puzzle- Fitting the Pieces
Homage Piece No. 1- William Copley, 1961 “It is Midnight Dr. ______.”
Homage Piece No. 2- Man Ray “Les Invendables” April, 1969
Man Ray’s homage “Les Invendables” presented in April, 1969 fits perfectly into the timeline. How?
Marcel Duchamp died at his home in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France on 2 October 1968.
Duchamp, age 81, had just retired after dining with his good friends, Man Ray and the art critic, Robert Lebel. Unexpectedly, he collapsed and died of heart failure in his studio at 1:05 AM.
Marcel Duchamp’s Etant Donnes homage to the Black Dahlia Murder (shown below), was a twenty-year work in progress (1947-1967), which the artist had created in secret. Under Duchamp’s specific written instructions, the work could
not be shown to the public until after his death. Further, it was to be assembled (using detailed instructions from Duchamp) by his good friend, William Copley. Copley had purchased and was gifting the piece to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After Duchamp’s passing in October, 1968, arrangements were made to assemble the piece at the museum with a public opening set for July 7, 1969.
So, the timing becomes obvious. Man Ray’s homage to the Dahlia Murder and George Hodel came only after the death of his close friend, Marcel Duchamp who had been working on his own homage to the crime for twenty years.
Further, Man Ray chose to reveal his own homage just two months in advance of the Etant Donnes opening, and included it as an “unsaleable” in his own one man show/exhibit at the Gallery Alphone Chave in April/May 1969.
Homage Piece No. 3 Marcel Duchamp “Etant Donnes” July 7, 1969
SKH Note- Of course there are numerous other connections and linkages showing that these “three surrealist amigos” all had knowledge that George Hodel was the killer. All have been extensively documented in my previous investigation, but the focus here is on the newly discovered Man Ray “Les Invendables.”
Inarguably, this Man Ray lithograph is a visual confirmation, (along with the Copley and Duchamp artworks) that Man Ray recognized the posing of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short’s body was a signature work, a masterpiece, by the artist, George Hodel, the living embodiment of, The Minotaur.
The post Newly Discovered Man Ray 1969 Lithograph “Les Invendables” (The Unsaleables) Includes the Surrealist’s Minotaur Homage to His Personal Friend and Black Dahlia Killer, Dr. George Hill Hodel appeared first on Steve Hodel.