A Note on the Cover Photograph
The cover shows a detail of a photograph of a nude: Natacha, 1929 by Man Ray (b.1890, Philadelphia – d.1976, Paris). The photograph is an example of solarisation, a technique rediscovered by Man Ray and the photographer Lee Miller, who was his assistant, muse and lover. It involves exposing a partially developed photograph to light at an early stage of its processing. The result creates halo–like outlines and alters the tonal values, and was much used and perfected by Man Ray in his photographs of female nudes.