Man Ray, Studio in 8th Street New York, silver gelatin print, 1918
Studio in 8th Street New York (Man Ray's Studio in New York), 1918
Silver gelatin print produced for publication in an album or press publication
Unsigned
Annotated on the back in pencil: MR and the dimensions 195 mm
It is likely that this is a print made later (the 1950s-1960s)
Good condition: small stains on the back, restorations in the margins
Context: In 1918, Man Ray was still primarily a painter and close to the New York Dada circle, particularly Marcel Duchamp. Photography was not yet his main medium—it would become so especially after his move to Paris in 1921.
24.5 x 19.5 cm
Dimensions :
- Height : 24,5 cm
- Width : 19,5 cm
Man Ray :
(1890-1976) born Emmanuel Radinsky, is a painter, photographer, director, and main actor of dadaism in New York, and then surrealism in Paris. He is a central figure of the avant-gardes of the XXth century. Along with Marcel Duchamp, he formed the American part of the Dada movement, until he realised that “Dada cannot live in New York”, because of its puritian atmosphere at the time.
In the beginning of the 20’s, Man Ray went to France, in Paris, and met the surrealists via Marcel Duchamp: Louis Aragon, André Breton, Paul Eluard among others. He settled in Montparnasse and meets his muse, the notorious Kiki de Montparnasse. In 1925, he presented his works with the surrealists at the galerie Pierre in Paris.
It is really through the art of photography that Man Ray made his name: for more than 30 years he revolutionized photography, and contributed to valorize the great pioneers of the History of photography that preceded him. In the beginning of the WWII, he left France to go back to America, joined by Salvador and Gala Dali, and René Clair. He spent the rest of his life in Hollywood, and was buried in 1976 at the Montparnasse cemetery, going back to his artistic roots, with the following epitaph “Unconcerned but not indifferent”.
