Background · 1922–1926
Man Ray’s studio
Address · 31 bis, rue Campagne-Première, 75014 Paris
Metro · Raspail (4, 6)
Today · Private, seen from the street. Private studios; the façade can be seen from the street.
The story
No. 31-31 bis rue Campagne-Première is a building of studios and apartments built by the architect André Arfvidson on a plot bought in 1901 by Charles-Henry Bréal; begun in 1911, it won a prize in the City of Paris façade competition. Its façade is clad in flambé stoneware by the ceramicist Alexandre Bigot, and its large glass windows light duplex studios that herald modern architecture. It has been listed as a historic monument since 12 June 1986. Chaïm Soutine, Dora Maar, César and Pierre Restany lived or worked there.
Having arrived in Paris in July 1921, Man Ray left his room at the Hôtel des Écoles, rue Delambre, in 1922 for a ground-floor duplex studio at No. 31 bis, which he occupied for about fourteen years. The lower level was used for visits, collages and objects, a mezzanine served as a bedroom, and two small rooms became darkrooms. Kiki de Montparnasse was then his companion. The American Berenice Abbott was his assistant there from 1923 to 1925 or 1926, depending on the source: she first learned printing, then photography, before opening her own studio. It was also through Man Ray that she discovered the work of Eugène Atget, a neighbour at No. 17.
Crowley lived mainly in Paris from 1924 to 1929. Tobias Churton, in Aleister Crowley in Paris, describes his affair with Berenice Abbott and his friendship with Man Ray. The Aleister Crowley Timeline mentions Abbott under the date 10 November 1926, for a sex-magick operation with Crowley; by that date she had already left Man Ray's studio to work on her own account. No source indicates that Crowley posed or stayed at No. 31 bis: the link with this place runs through the two photographers.
The building is easy to see from the street: its flambé stoneware façade and large glass windows are one of the sights of the neighbourhood. The studios remain private homes and are not open to visitors.