The Mime of 1916 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and financed the Patti Cadby Birch Garden Plaza at MoMA). She was a gracious hostess in her homes from New York to Paris, Marrakech,Venice and the Caribbean. From 1950 to 1955, Patti ran her Cadby Birch Gallery on Madison Avenue and 63rd Street inNewYork.

Patti Cadby Birch’s friendship with Man Ray and her passion for his paintings in particular was a long association. She met him in the 1930s when she was living in Paris. By late 1940, Man Ray had arrived in Hollywood after fleeing war-torn Europe and the Garnell family had also moved back to America. They met again in Hollywood and Man Ray made her portrait twice: one quite conventional photographic portrait and, in complete contrast,

the present painting, a startling and highly Surrealist portrait painted in 1942. Here, Man Ray outlines Patti Cadby’s distinctive profile and blond curly hair set against the red-brick wall of the artist’sVine Street Studio in Hollywood, covered in ivy. Man Ray adds a Surrealist element by objectifying this human portrait: he painted an egg placed on a column, the egg representing her brain (she was known for her intelligence) while the column represents her spine. Man Ray must have thought highly of her personality, intelligence and youth, since he alludes to such attributed in the present composition.