Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention

Man Ray (1890-1976) known as a Prophet of the French avant-garde. a painter and fashion photographer, writer and innovator, a maker of films and “objects.” . Born Emmanuel Radnitzky, the Brooklyn-bred son of Russian Jews. The Jewish Museum’s new show, “Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention,” opening Sunday will focus on Man Ray the quintessential modernist, who continually recast the concept of his artistic identity, working as a painter, photographer, sculptor, printmaker, film maker, poet, and essayist. Man Ray’s fame as a photographer eclipsed his accomplishments as a painter. A conflicted identity, however, was central to an artist who yearned to escape the limitations of his Russian Jewish immigrant past. For Man Ray, a sense of otherness was deeply connected to the problem of assimilation and the wish for both “notoriety” and “oblivion.

Man Ray was a card carrying member of the Dada art movement ,and the only American member of the Paris Surrealist movement, Man Ray considered himself an artist thinking of photography as a medium of artistic expression when used for more than reproduction. Man Ray once said, “I paint what can not be photographed. I photograph what I do not wish to paint.”

Man Ray embraced the ideals of the Surrealists and admired the Marquis de Sade for his independence and willingness to explore the taboo despite the consequences. Marquis de Sade’s writings gave Man Ray even more inspiration in his quest to explore eroticism and female imagery.

Man Ray’s vision was to create a Surrealist vision of the female form and began to utilize such photographic techniques as solarization, dynamic cropping, over enlargement and over development in an effort to create a dreamlike effect in his artwork. Man Ray’s quest for visual poetry he pioneered the use of the Rayograph helped him to create a new, profound look to his photography, stressing the importance of light and shadow rather than the object itself.

Man Ray fled the Nazi’s and left France in 1940, shortly before the German occupation, making his way to Hollywood and then to New York.

The Jewish Museum is located on 109 5th Ave at 92nd St, New York NY 10128

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