Man Ray

Man Ray (1890–1976) remains a legendary figure in the history of 20th century visual art, Born Emmanuel Rudnitsky (which he abbreviated as his career took off) in Philadelphia, Ray was one of the first modern graphic artists. Bursting with ideas, he restlessly moved between media, constantly experimenting with the technological and scientific processes of constructing the image. In Ray's compositions bodies and objects are made strange and unfamiliar — erotic, playful and sometimes sinister. Ray was a charismatic figure with a knack for creating and energising artistic movements, influencing and befriending many leading lights of the European Avant-Garde, from Dadaists to Surrealists and including Duchamp, Picasso, Satie, Cocteau and Breton. Ray's vast photographic oeuvre is often considered to be his most important and ground-breaking body of work. As well as consistently creating unusual and beautiful images, he also developed a number of new photographic techniques, most famously photograms (or "Rayographs," as he preferred to call them), and the solarization process which, as he himself claimed, he "discovered" by accident with his muse, assistant and model Lee Miller. This volume brings together the finest photographs from collections and archives around the world, representing the singular vision of Man Ray at his most dynamic and beautiful.