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Charles Dukes
, January 26, 2011
A thorough single volume, and a scholarly and compelling read- a rare combo. Both a biography of Man Ray and a broad art history encompassing the many, many facets of 20th century art and culture. Although focused on the 1920s and 1930s in Montparnasse, the author includes masses of background and glimpses of the future to help us understand events. Lottman places Man Ray into the center of it all, an essential man. Succinct portraits of individual artists and writers, and an acute understanding of the theories and the realities of the the movements described, placed in their time and context, make this essential reading. The book received some minor criticism for missing a minor fact or two, but everything essential and more is there. Published in 2001it was my best read in 2010.
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