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Man Ray

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/master-of-erotic-photography-man-rays-125th-birthday/a-18671829
Man Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitsky on 20th August 1890 in Philadelphia, America, was the most famously well-known representative of avant-garde photography in 1930. Ray is now considered as a pioneer of Surrealist photography. Ray's work is very wide-ranging, being a painter, object artist photographer, and filmmaker. Ray is also a part of the Dada and Surrealist movements. Ray was the very first artist whose photographs were increasingly more valuable to collectors than his artistic works. Ray made an important contribution to the revision of photography as an art form. One photograph of Ray's, "Noire et Blanche" (1926) was sold for a large sum of $550,000 in 1998.
From 1897, Ray lived and worked in New York taking art evening classes. From 1911 Ray worked as a map illustrator and it was at this time that Ray also began painting and sculpting. In 1912 Ray moved to Paris, this is where he met the surrealists. Ray was self-taught and earnt the majority of his money with productions and portraits of one of his good friends. by 1922 Ray had opened his very own studio and was promoted to the role of the official photographer for the avant-garde. Ray experimented with many different photographic techniques which include, double exposure and photo collage or best known as "Rayographs" or "Rayogrammes". Ray also worked as a fashion photographer for "Vogue". Ray created photographic studies of cultural figures of the times, which include Picasso, Matisse. Lee Miller and Berenice Abbot studied photography as Ray's apprenticeships and in 1929 Ray started a relationship with Miller who he explored the technique of solarization with. In 1940 Ray moved back to the USA and slowly lost his interest in photography. Ray's works have been recognized and won numerous awards in many exhibitions.

Rayograph, 1922
Size: 23.9 x 17.8 cm 
https:http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265487

http://www.man-ray-works.com/


Rayograph, 1930
Size: 30.3 x 23 cm 
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/207376757818649490/



   






Rayograph, 1922
Size: 23.5 x 17.8 cm 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Ray









The photograph on the right "Rayograph" has been composed and the objects positioned on the paper so that the main subject which is the slinky is central and is the main focal point of the photograph. The main subject in this photograph is in the foreground whilst a wine glass is in the background in which the background and foreground contrast. When I first view this photograph my eyes are drawn to various areas of the photograph. The first place that my eye is drawn to is the lightest part of the photograph in the center, this is because it really stands out from the background and the other objects in the photograph and it seems very striking to me. The tones and colours that I see in this photograph are very bland and dull but to me, this colouring makes the photograph strangely appealing because although the colours may be boring and uninteresting, the photograph has an aesthetic that makes me want to view the photograph more. The lighting in this photograph has come from above, from an enlarger. I think that this photograph has been exposed to light for about 3 seconds because a lower amount of time will create a shorter exposure allowing for more contrasting results.
This photograph was made by positioning objects in the desired way on a gelatin silver print paper, then exposing the paper to light leaving the areas of the paper that have no objects on it to turn black and exposed and the areas where there was an object stays white because the paper beneath does not get exposed to any light.
This photograph makes me feel fear because I almost imagine that I am in a sort of crime scene with the wine glass on the floor and a cigarette burning next to it which is what I see in the image. When I look at this image it makes me feel on edge because of the way that the objects are located on the image is very disorganised and chaotic.              


My responses to Man Ray
















REFER TO SKETCHBOOK FOR ANNOTATIONS

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