Man Ray

by Alexander Games

Born in Philadelphia in 1890, the legendary photographer, artist, film-maker, and poet known as Man Ray pushed the boundaries of an art form that itself was just beginning to emerge as an accepted art.As a flashy member of the Dada and Surrealist movements, and close friend of Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray established himself among the cultural elite taking portraits of influential members of the art, fashion and literary worlds, and shocked the same through his sometimes pornographic, sometimes blasphemous photographs. As capricious as he was with the women in his life, he was singularly devoted to capturing the beauty of their form on film. The 65 pieces collected here document his changing muses in both art and life.Throughout his long career, Man Ray continually experimented with materials, subjects and techniques. He is credited with two breakthroughs in the darkroom in one that produces dream-like, floating images and another that creates a halo around the human form.With work that is alternately sensual and violent, simultaneously intimate and oddly distant, Man Ray referenced past works (perhaps most famously in Violin d'Ingres (1924)) and broke ground for future experiments. Despite changing lovers, subjects, and countries, Man Ray's focus remained fixed on the siren call of interpreting and reinterpreting the ideal of female beauty.Alexander Games is an eminent art history Professor of 20th century American photography and painting. He specializes in the study of Surrealism, regularly publishes on the different actors of this movement and is recognized as an authority on Man Ray. He currently lives in England.

Genres: Art

Hardcover

First published December 22, 2011