Man Ray's Celebrity Photos

by Man Ray

Masterful collection of 60 works by a supreme artist with an unerring ability to capture his subject’s personality on film. Revealing portraits of Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dalí, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso and many other luminaries. New English translations of Introduction and captions.

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 1996

About the author

Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky), was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal. Best known in the art world for his avant-garde photography, Man Ray produced major works in a variety of media and considered himself a painter above all. He was also a renowned fashion and portrait photographer.

While appreciation for Man Ray’s work beyond his fashion and portrait photography was slow in coming during his lifetime, especially in his native United States, his reputation has grown steadily in the decades since.

In 1999, ARTnews magazine named him one of the 25 most influential artists of the 20th century, citing his groundbreaking photography as well as "his explorations of film, painting, sculpture, collage, assemblage, and prototypes of what would eventually be called performance art and conceptual art" and saying "Man Ray offered artists in all media an example of a creative intelligence that, in its 'pursuit of pleasure and liberty,'" — Man Ray’s stated guiding principles — "unlocked every door it came to and walked freely where it would."

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprising number of famous artist, in a range of styles.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artist Man Ray took superb portraits of the leading artists of his day and time. His work is sort of a combination of George Hurrell (the famous Hollywood Portrait photographer of the 30's) in that he used lighting and highly defined technical skills in getting the images that he wanted for his portraits. And though he shot a lot of images for friends, i suspect that his personal income was through his portraits.