What is so interesting about the artist Man Ray is how relevant his multimedia works seem to us today. Man Ray, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to Paris in 1921, was a photographer, filmmaker, painter, and writer who quickly became one of the most celebrated figures associated with the Surrealist movement. With more than 300 gorgeously reproduced duotones of his photographs, collages, drawings, objects, and a variety of graphic work, this is the quintessential book on the intriguing artist, presenting a unique overview of his entire body of work. Most compelling are his portraits of figures who embody the spirit of the artistic vanguard of their generation: André Breton, Yves Tanguy, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dalí, and Gertrude Stein, as well as his innovative fashion spreads for Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar.


Book Description
"I do not photograph nature, I photograph my fantasy," Man Ray proclaimed, and he found in the camera's eye and in light's magical chemistry the mechanisms for dreaming. Schooled as a painter and designer in New York, Man Ray turned to photography after discovering the 291 Gallery and its charismatic founder, Alfred Stieglitz. As a young expatriate in Paris during the twenties and thirties, Man Ray embraced surrealism and dadaism, creeds that emphasized chance effects, disjunction, and surprise. Tireless experimentation with technique led him to employ solarization, grain enlargement, mixed media, and cameraless prints (photograms)-- which he called "Rayographs"-- made by placing objects directly on photographic paper and exposing them to light. These successful manipulations, for which he was dubbed "the poet of the darkroom" by fellow surrealist Jean Cocteau, were a major contribution to twentieth-century photography.

Man Ray was no less adept at commercial and portrait photography, and he earned a good living both in Paris and later in Hollywood. His portraits of Joyce, Eliot, Matisse, Artaud, Hemingway, and Brancusi, among others, testify to his compelling insight. Renowned for his exotic wit and elegance, Man Ray was one of the most popular figures of his time and his work continues to hold wide appeal.

Man Ray presents forty-three of the greatest images from throughout the artist's career. The essay by Jed Perl describes the influences behind Man Ray's abundant career and his enduring contribution to photography.



Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French


From the Publisher
A portfolio of images from a co-founder of the Dadaist and Surrealist Art movements and a legend in twentieth century photography. Includes a superb collection of avant-garde still lifes, surrealist portraits, and camera-less prints or "rayographs" from the 20's and 30's.


About the Author
Born in 1890 in Philadelphia, Man Ray began as a painter, not taking up photography until 1915, around the same time he had his first one-man show of paintings in New York. A surrealist living in Paris during the twenties and thirties, he hoped to change or "transform" photography into a new kind of art. In 1922, an album of his first cameraless photos, the "Rayographs," were introduced, and a year later his first avant-garde film using the same technique was shown. During the forties he moved to Hollywood, where-- even though he still photographed-- painting once again became his main focus. After returning to Paris in 1952, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Photography at the Biennale, Venice in 1962. His work was also shown in leading museums in Paris, Los Angeles, Rotterdam, and Denmark. He died in France in 1976, and in 1988 was given a major retrospective exhibition with the National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.).

ANNOTATION

A collection of photographs from one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, including his best experimental work - using the rayograph.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Inventive, audacious, with an effervescent imagination and a continual willingness to call traditional notions of art into question, Man Ray (1890-1976) was the quintessential avant-garde artist. Born Emmanuel Radnitsky in Philadelphia, Man Ray came into his own in Paris in the 1920s, becoming a major figure in the Dadaist and Surrealist movements as well as one of the most successful commercial photographers of his day.