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MAN RAY 1890-1976 Man Ray was born Emmanuel Radnitzky, on August 27,
1890, in Philadelphia, and moved to New York with his family seven years later.
Working in several media, Man Ray's art includes painting, sculpture, collage,
constructed objects and photography. A member of the Dada art movement and the
only American member of the Paris Surrealist movement, Man Ray considered
himself an artist, and thought of photography as a medium of artistic
expression when used for more than reproduction. In describing his own work,
Man Ray once said, "I paint what can not be photographed. I photograph
what I do not wish to paint." In New York he frequented Alfred Stieglitz’s gallery “291” in, and attended classes at the Ferrer Center in 1912. In 1915 his first solo show was held at the Daniel Gallery, New York. About this time he took up photography, the medium for which he was to become best known, producing his first significant photographs around 1918. He entered into a lifelong friendship with Marcel
Duchamp, with whom he and Walter Arensberg founded the Society of
Independent Artists
in 1916. With Duchamp, Katherine Dreier, Henry Hudson, and Andrew McLaren, Man
Ray established the Société Anonyme, which he named, in 1920. Before the artist moved from
New York City to Paris in 1921, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp published the
single issue of New York Dada. From 1923 to 1929 he made the films Le Retour à la
raison, Emak
Bakia, L’Etoile
de mer, and Les
Mystères du château de dé. In 1932, Man Ray’s work was included in Dada: 1916–1932 at the Galerie de l’Institut
in Paris, and in a Surrealist show at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. He
collaborated with Paul Eluard on the books Facile in 1935 and Les Mains
libres in
1937. In 1936 he went to New York on the occasion of the Fantastic Art,
Dada, Surrealism
exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, in which his work appeared. Man Ray died on November 18, 1976, in Paris. His epitaph reads: “Unconcerned, but not indifferent.” Selected Recent Exhibitions 2004 Man Ray and Lee Miller. FOAM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Man
Ray: The Gift of His Vision. House of Shiseido, Ginza Tokyo, Japan. Conversion
to Modernism: The Early Work of Man Ray. Terra Museum of Art, Chicago Man Ray. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. 2003 Man Ray's Paris Portraits: 1921-39. Carosso Fine Art, New York, NY. Conversion to Modernism: The Early Works of Man Ray. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey. The
Omnipotent Dream: Man Ray, Confluences and Influences. The Turchin
Center
for the Visual Arts, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina. Photographs of Man Ray. Museum Eki, Kyoto, Japan. Man Ray Exhibition. Tristan's Gallery, Wadebridge Cornwall, UK. 2002 Man Ray: Voyeur / Voyant. Hillwood Art Museum, C.W. Post Long Island University, Brookville, New York.
Modernist Photographs by Herbert Bayer and Man Ray. Denver Museum of Art, Denver, CO. Man Ray on Paper. Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
A Practical Dreamer: The Photographs of Man Ray. J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA.
Public Collections: Eastman House Museum of
Photography & Film, Rochester, New York Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston |