+/-

He was an American photographer and painter, one of the leading spirits of Dada and Surrealism and the only American artist to play a prominent role in the launching of those two influential movements. His name is Emmanuel Radnitzky, better known as Man Ray.

He learned the rudiments of photography from the art dealer and photographer, Alfred Stieglitz, and began to experiment on his own. Man Ray reinvented the photographic technique of solarization. He also created a technique using photograms he called rayographs, which he described as "pure dadaism".

A “rayograph” was made by placing a three-dimensional object or series of objects on top of a piece of photographic paper and exposing it to light. These images lyrically and impressionistically represented objects such as ropes, light bulbs, and thumb tacks. Many artists responded positively to Man Ray’s daring combination of minimalism, chance, and absurdity.


Man Ray also directed a number of influential avant-garde short films, known as Cinéma Pur. He was one of the avant-garde filmmakers in the 20s that included Leger, Bunuel, Clair, Kirsanoff, and Cocteau.

The very brief LE RÉTOUR À LA RAISON (1923) consists of moving geometric designs, intercut with distorted night shots of a merry-go-round, then moving three dimensional shapes, and closing with the play of bars of light on a woman's nude torso. It was an experiment in abstract expressionism that inspired other directors.



Overall, I don't find Man Ray's films as interesting or stimulating as those of Clair or Bunuel from the same period. Their experiments were informed by a resolutely personal vision. Ray seems more the purely formal innovator. The cinema (and indeed all art forms) need eccentrics like him who are willing to try different combination of elements and techniques so as to discover hidden potentials in the art. Ray's pictures are fascinating viewing in this historical sense, but precisely because of their character as innovation in the abstract, they have lost the novelty and excitement they once held.

Ray’s life and art were always provocative, engaging, and challenging.