U

RAOUL UBAC

Belgian

Raoul Ubac is one of the leading figures in the
Surrealist movement of the 1930s. His highly
manipulated works testify to his innovative, experi-
mental style that expanded the boundaries of what
a photograph could be during a period of complex
aesthetic and political turmoil. Rudolf Ubac was
born in 1910 in Malme ́dy, Belgium, of a German
father and a Belgian mother. The family’s move to
Cologne and Frankfurt-am-Main marked the
rhythm of his childhood. He returned to Malme ́dy,
however, to receive his secondary education from
1920 to 1928. The young man alleviated the bore-
dom of living in this township of 6000 by taking
frequent, lengthy walks through the Fagnes high-
lands. Ubach’s affection for this region made him
think of becoming a forestry engineer, but rebellion
against the dominating middle class, and in parti-
cular against his own family, led him to nourish
other projects, starting with several walking trips
around Europe, notably in France.
After choosing French naturalization and gal-
licizing his name to Raoul Ubac in 1926, a first
stay in Paris, in 1929, proved decisive. He met there
the poet Jean Gacon, and reading theSurrealist
Manifestostrongly impressed him. The same year,

he enrolled at the Sorbonne to study literature. A

fellow student, Raymond Michelet, introduced him

to poet and writer Andre ́Breton. Frequent visits to

the Montparnasse Studios, then meeting the Ger-

man painter Otto Freundlich, induced Ubac to

forsake his literature studies and turn his attention

to the visual arts. As a member of the Group of

Progressive Artists in Cologne, Freundlich invited

Ubac to stay in the German city, where Ubac first

practiced photography in 1930, initially making

a living from it. That enabled him to carry on

with his frequent travels. Ubac enrolled at the Co-

logne Werkschule in 1932, where he received pro-

fessional instruction, along with training in other

artistic techniques.

Ubac produced his first significant series of

works during a trip to Dalmacy. On Hvar island

(part of present-day Croatia), inspired by the land-

scape of the shores, he assembled eroded stones

that he photographed, drew, and painted. Evoking

strange human silhouettes, theseStones of Dalmacy

photographs expressed the artist’s interest not only

in the rendering of materials, but also in the ima-

ginary association between the animate and the

inanimate that became hallmarks of his work.

Ubac met Man Ray in 1933, who gave him confid-

ence in his choice of photography as a medium and