
Man Ray
American Photographer, Sculptor, Painter, and Filmmaker
Movements and Styles: Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Dada and Surrealist Photography, Surrealist Sculpture
Born: August 27, 1890 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died: November 18, 1976 - Paris, France

Table of contents
> Summary> Key Ideas
> Artworks
> Biography & Legacy
Influences and Connections
Resources
"Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art."

Summary of Man Ray
Man Ray's career is distinctive above all for the success he achieved in both the United States and Europe. First maturing in the center of American modernism in the 1910s, he made Paris his home in the 1920s and 1930s, and in the 1940s he crossed the Atlantic once again, spending periods in New York and Hollywood. His art spanned painting, sculpture, film, prints and poetry, and in his long career he worked in styles influenced by Cubism, Futurism, Dada and Surrealism. He also successfully navigated the worlds of commercial and fine art, and came to be a sought-after fashion photographer. He is perhaps most remembered for his photographs of the inter-war years, in particular the camera-less pictures he called 'Rayographs', but he always regarded himself first and foremost as a painter.
Key Ideas

Keeping his upbringing and past a mystery, Man Ray thought of himself as a modern day "Thoreau breaking free of all ties and duties to society," an approach he expanded into the avant-garde art world, presenting himself as an "enigma," with an eye toward creating provocative art.
Important Art by Man Ray The below artworks are the most important by Man Ray - that both overview the major creative periods, and highlight the greatest achievements by the artist. | |
![]() Artwork Images | L'Enigme d'Isidore Ducasse (The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse) (1920)Artwork description & Analysis: This early, assisted readymade (a found object slightly altered) was created a year before Man Ray left for France. Marcel Duchamp's influence and assistance are evident in this Dada object, in which a sewing machine is wrapped in an army blanket, and tied with a string. The title comes from French poet Isidore Ducasse (1846-70) and the imagery comes from a quote in his book Les Chants de Maldoror (1869): 'Beautiful as the chance meeting, on a dissecting table, of a sewing machine and an umbrella'. Chance effects were important to the Dada artists, and the piece is very much in that spirit, but it also prefigures the Surrealists' interest in revealing the creative power of the unconscious. The original object was created and then dismantled after the photograph was taken. Ray did not reveal the 'enigma' under the felt and intended the photograph as a riddle for the viewers to solve with the title providing a hint. Object wrapped in felt and string - National Gallery of Australia, Parkes (reconstructed in 1971) |
![]() Artwork Images | Le Cadeau (The Gift) (1921)Artwork description & Analysis: This piece was made in the afternoon on the opening day of Man Ray's first solo show in Paris. It was intended as a gift to the gallery owner, the poet Philippe Soupault, and Ray added it to the show at the last minute. But the object received much attention and disappeared at the end of the opening. Iron and tacks - The Museum of Modern Art, New York (replica of the lost original) |
![]() Artwork Images | Rayography (The Kiss) (1922)Artwork description & Analysis: This is one of Man Ray's earliest Rayograms, a process by which objects are laid directly on to a photo-sensitive paper then exposed to light. To create this particular picture, he transferred the silhouette of a pair of hands to the photographic paper then repeated the procedure with a pair of heads (his and his then lover's, Kiki de Montparnasse). Gelatin silver print (photogram) - The Museum of Modern Art, New York |
More Man Ray Artwork and Analysis:
Influences and Connections


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Content compiled and written by Jin Jung
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
" Artist Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Jin Jung
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
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First published on 21 Jan 2012. Updated and modified regularly.
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