Major Project TERM II - Man Ray Research

Below you can read first part of my research for my major photography project. This part is dedicated to photographer Man Ray.

I. Introduction

Man Ray, born in Philadelphia and raised in New York, was an American artist who specialized in photography as well as painting. During his life Emmanuel Radnitzky, as he was originally named, have created countless photographs, and other artworks using many different techniques, some of which he created himself. 

A firstborn child of Russian Jewish immigrants studied engineering, architecture and art in New York City so he could become a painter. Besides painting however, Man Ray also was interested in film and, of course, in photography. While he did not want to be defined by his parents work in tailoring, some elements of this craft were smuggled into all of the above-mentioned art mediums. 

He pioneered new techniques and ways of creating art in every medium, throughout his career he created in almost every possible artistic trend, ranging from Dadaism, through Cubism, to Surrealism. While creating in such broad spectrum of mediums and artistic periods Man Ray stayed true to his words, which describe his way of looking at everything around him perfectly.

'I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive... I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence.' (Ray M. n.d.)

II. Artistic Life of Man Ray

Man Ray

Emmanuel Radnitzky was born on August 27, 1890 in Philadelphia. From early years was fondly interested in Art. As a 21 year old Emmanuel took up an alias of Man Ray, which originated from his childhood nickname Manny, which later he shortened to Man, and Ray, which came from a ray of light. In later years he started to be quite defensive about his past and actually denied that he had other name then Man Ray ever.
His true passion for art started when as an adolescent was a regular visitor at Alfred Stieglitz’s “291” gallery in New York. In this place Ray was discovered his passion for photographs.
In 1915, four years after becoming Man Ray, he met, as we later find out, probably his biggest inspiration and best friend, Marcel Duchamp. Their friendship lasted over 50 years and has resulted in many great collaborations between artists.

'It was his achievement to treat the camera as he treated the paint brush, as a mere instrument at the service of the mind.' (Duchamp, M. n.d.)

'Dust Breeding' - Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp

In 1921 Ray, encouraged by Duchamp, moved to Paris, where he spend his next twenty years. During this period Man Ray started being a member of Dadaist and Surrealist circles of artists.
In said circles were at the time many quite known names, like Salvador Dali, or Max Ernst. Besides these during his stay in Paris Ray also met artists from different backgrounds, like Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein.
During this time Ray was fascinated by every form of art. He was mesmerized by an idea of cameraless photographs, a way of photographing, which he later called 'rayographs'.
As for different kinds of photography, Man Ray's portraits and were shown many times in well-known magazines e.g. Vogue, or Vu.

French Vogue May 1926

During his career, he was creating in many artistic trends, while starting being influenced classical artists, like Leonardo da Vinci, or Michelangelo in his early years, later he started being influenced by Cubism and Expressionism, just so he later could change it to Dada and Surrealist movements after meeting Marcel Duchamp. It only shows, how big of an inspiration Duchamp was for Man Ray. Joining Dada circle was influenced by the trauma of first World War, and the emergence of a modern media culture (MoMa, n.d.)

III. Unusual creations of Man Ray

Rayograph

Man Ray during his life created a countless unusual and even revolutionary pieces, which are praised to this day. One of which is previously mentioned photography technique, called rayograph.

Rayographs were created by exposing photographic paper to a source of light for a split second. This way it worked just like an ordinary film camera with a shutter, however the entire process of creating this image was made without use of camera at all.

'I have finally freed myself from the sticky medium of paint, and am working directly with light itself.' (Ray, M. 1922)

'The Kiss' Man Ray

Another form of art, Man Ray experimented in was film. He often combined his inventions across media, and film was no different. Fascinated by both Dada movement and his creation of Rayographs, Man Ray created 'Return to Reason', a film which is a series of rayographs and short videos. It was never fully completed, however fragments can be watched below.

What is also fascinating is that Man Ray with Marcel Duchamp experimenting on creating a film is 3D, in the early 1920s, which was many years before 3D actually come to cinema (Ben Pritchard, 2013).

IV. A closer look into 'Glass Tears'

'Glass Tears' Man Ray

I chose this particular image, because of its both artistic and symblistic aspects. This black and white photograph from 1932 is only one from a series of images that Man Ray created after his break-up with his assistant and lover - Lee Miller.  This collection were supposed to work as a revenge on this American photographer.
After putting these photos to the public many critics commented on the piece as if 'both that the glass tears represent female duplicity and that they mock female suffering' (Hornby, L. 2020). Which was an analogy to how insincere these tears are, which fit right in with Ray's intentions for this piece. 
It becomes very clear how deceitful this image is after just a few seconds of inspecting it. Heather Christle writes about it in her Crying Book from 2019.

'After a real cry, most people are hideous, as if they’ve grown a spare and diseased face beneath the one you know, leaving very little room for the eyes.' (Heather, C. 2019)

Man Ray's tears are clean, still, without any trace. The entire photo is cropped as if it was a close-up shot from a movie. We are as close to the situation as possible, we are observing this intimate picture as if we were drawn to it. This cinematic aspect of this photo creates the reality of how Man Ray felt after losing Lee Miller. Full of cold emotion, builds this surreal image knowing exactly what emotions will it trigger.
Another fascinating thing about this image is that some people believe, that the model is, in fact, not real. It is a store mannequin, with glycerin tears glued onto it. This theory adds to the fact how Man Ray, while often trapped in his own dreams wanted to merge it with reality.
This photograph is a true masterpiece, from composition, through cropping to make-up. It shows how skillful Man Ray was with this craft, how a simple image could provoke so many emotions.

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Sources:

The Museum of Modern Art. n.d. Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky) | MoMA. [online] Available at: <https://www.moma.org/artists/3716> [Accessed 3 February 2021].

Manray.net. 2011. Man Ray - photography, paintings, biography of Man Ray. [online] Available at: <https://www.manray.net/> [Accessed 3 February 2021].

Artnet.com. n.d. Man Ray | artnet. [online] Available at: <http://www.artnet.com/artists/man-ray/> [Accessed 3 February 2021].

GROSSMAN, W. and BONNELL, L., 2009. Man Ray, African Art, and the Modernist Lens. African Arts, 42(3), pp. 72-81.

Man Ray 2021. Britannica Academic. Retrieved 3 February 2021, from https://academic-eb-com.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk/levels/collegiate/article/Man-Ray/62816

Hornby, L., 2020. On the Verge of Tears. [online] Modernismmodernity.org. Available at: <https://modernismmodernity.org/forums/posts/verge-tears> [Accessed 3 February 2021].

Pritchard, B., 2013. The Quietus | Film | Film Features | Movement In Light: The Cinema Of Man Ray. [online] The Quietus. Available at: <https://thequietus.com/articles/11757-man-ray-movement-in-light-national-portrait-gallery-the-quietus> [Accessed 7 February 2021].