Man Ray

Man Ray was born on August 27^th, 1890 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Jewish immigrants from Russia. Showing artistic promise from a young age, Ray, née Emmanuel Rudnitzky, studied drawing at the Ferrer Center, which is now called the New York City Modern School. He married Adon Lacroix, a Belgian poet, in 1914 but separated from her after 5 years. 1918 was a critical turning point in Ray’s artistic career because this is when he decided to devote his work to the Dada movement. It was during this time that he decided to move to Paris. (oh la la!) In Paris, he fell in love with Kiki de Montparnasse, who was the subject of many of his most famous pieces. He also started manipulating his pictures by placing objects on his photosensitive paper and experimenting with layering on photographs.

As for style, Man Ray is very much in the category of surrealism and Dadaism, much like the collection of Thomas Walther at the MoMA. He employs high contrast in his work but there is an overall simplicity in his subject matter. That being said, the tone is eerie and definitely a bit unsettling. While I like the quality of his photographs, I really dislike the actual pieces, as I find their surreal, x-ray-like elements to be distracting and aesthetically displeasing. That is what Man Ray was trying to accomplish though, as Dadaism was the “anti-art movement.” Overall, I appreciate the movement that Ray was a part of but would not say that I like his pieces.