Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)

Born in Philadelphia but raised in New York, Man Ray’s artistic vision was influenced by Robert Henri, Max Weber and Adolf Wolff. In 1913 he moved to Ridgefield, New Jersey, where he painted in a Cubist style, and became close to Alfred Stieglitz, who owned the 291 Gallery and introduced him to photography. In 1915 he met Marcel Duchamp, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship and collaborated in promoting the Dada movement in the United States. In 1921 he moved to Paris, where he met James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and Jean Cocteau, among others. He took on Lee Miller as his assistant; she became his muse and lover. Together they experimented with photographic solarization, while Man Ray developed his rayographs, images made without a camera by placing objects directly on photosensitive paper. He collaborated with Fernand Léger and Duchamp, directed avant-garde short films and illustrated books by Paul Éluard. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he returned to the United States, settling in Los Angeles until 1951, when he returned to Paris and spent the rest of his life in Montparnasse. He published his autobiography, Self Portrait, in 1963 and continued to work in painting, photography and object assemblage until his death in 1976.

Marcel Duchamp / Alfred Stieglitz / Fernand Léger / Paul Éluard