Welcome to Ad Hoc, our popular feature on the art of advertising. We are proud to welcome Dr. Richard
Zakia as the author of this page each month. Richard D. Zakia is Professor Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology
and author/coauthor of several books on photography, perception, semiotics and advertising.
(Photo by Vicki H. Wilson).
The photograph in this Christian Dumas ad titled "Violon de Dumas" is based on a photograph by,
A) Man Ray
B) Andy Warhol
C) Elliot Erwitt
Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky) was an American painter and photographer who
spent most of his career in Paris. He was best known for his innovative
photography but he considered himself a painter more than a photographer.
Note that the model in the ad is partially reversed and has a dark black
line around her shoulders. This is a resutl of a photographic phenomenon
called the Sabattier Effect, which Man Ray,in some of his partial reversal
work, mistakenly referred to as solarization. In a discrete way the
Sabattier Effect in the Christian Dumas ad pay homage to Man Ray's
partial reversal work.
Picture of Man Ray (1452 - 1519).
c. Corinne Whitaker 2011
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