"It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them."

1890-1976 American Painter, photographer and filmmaker and writer of the Dada movement and Surrealism.

He was born Emmanuel Radnitsky in Philadelphia. As a student he studied Illustration and commercial art. On occasion he visited Gallery 291 and was taken by the work of Alfred Stieglitz. In 1913, he went to the Armory Show 1913. In 1915, he had the incredible good fortune to make friends with Marcel Duchamp almost right after Duchamp arrived in New York. They would continue to be friends and collaborators for 55 years. One of the founders of the New York Dada group, he was also friends with Walter Arensberg and Francis Picabia. In 1916-17, he was still working in oil, but began to include objects, such as doorbells, lamps, and reflectors into the paintings. Later he abandoned the painting and created Readymades as a new form of art. Of course this was very controversial at the time and was rejected by many. In 1921, at the behest of Duchamp, he moved to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. There he was introduced to the Paris Dada group which included at that point Tristan Tzara. While in Paris, he developed a new art form he called "Rayograph" otherwise known as a photogram. In 1924 he did a photo called Le Violon D'Ingres picturing a nude woman from the back with a representation of the F holes applied so as to accentuate the similarity of a woman's back to a Cello. He also made films, including:
  • "Le retour à la raison" - 1923 - 3m
  • "Emak Bakia" -1927 - 18m
  • "L'Étoile de Mer" - 1928 - 15m
  • "Les Mystères du Chateau du De" - 1929 - 21m
He also did a lot of work in Surrealism. An example of one of his photographs is Le Violon D'Ingres.

Artists associated with Man Ray include:

His work is in the permanent collections of: Related Nodes:
Selected Sources: Motherwell, Robert "The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology", Harvard University Press, 1951 Rubin, William S., "Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage", Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1968 Last Updated 09.08.04

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