Man Ray was an American self-taught photographer, painter, sculptor and film maker and was influenced by the movements of Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dada.
Though he regarded himself as mainly a painter, he was also a successful sought after fashion photographer, but happily moved between different forms.
He was born in Philadelphia as Emmanuel Radnitzky in 1890 and then his family relocated to New York and changed their name to Ray in fear of antisemitism. In the 1920's he moved to Paris, France where he lived for a while but then traveled back to America, spending periods in New york and Hollywood.
He was influenced by Marcel Duchamp and would make art from anything lying about his studio. He had initially taken up the camera to photograph his work, but then started making images of ordinary objects - an answer to Marcel's "ready mades".
In 1920, Man Ray photographed a kitchen mixer and an array of objects from his dark room, he called these images "Man and Woman".
In 1921, he got on a boat to France, and his work was thriving, he still struggled to make a living. To keep himself a float, he took up Portrait photography. the writers and artists working in Paris began to seek him out, to have their photographs taken.
He has taken portraits of; Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvidor Dali and Catherine Deneuve to name a few <3,
Man Ray discovered the "rayograph" after accidentally dropping an unexposed sheet into the photo developer, he didn't want to waste the paper so placed a glass funnel, a thermometer and a graduate ontop, switched on the lights and an image began to form.
"Rayographs" are made without a camera, and like stated above, made by placing objects directly on top of a sheet of photo sensitized paper and exposing it to the light.
Man Ray had photographed ordinary items before but the unique images o the Rayograph revealed a new way of viewing things that delighted Dada poets.
I like the idea of the rayograph as its a cool quick way of getting a different perspective on a photograph.
