movement. Man Ray’s Parisian studio was kept
intact after his death by his widow, Julia, but was
destroyed in a fire in 1989. The Man Ray Trust has
been established to preserve what remains of his
archive and disseminate his artistic legacy.
JillConnerSeealso:Abbott, Berenice; Dada; History of Photo-
graphy: Interwar Years; History of Photography:
Twentieth-Century Pioneers; Manipulation; Miller,
Lee; Modernism; Moholy-Nagy, La ́szlo ́; Photogram;
Photography in France; Solarization; Surrealism
Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 27 August
1890, as Emmanuel Rudnitsky. Family moved to
Brooklyn, New York in 1897. Attended high
school and studied draughtsmanship in 1904. Stu-
died drawing and watercolor at the Ferrer Center
in 1910. Moved to Manhattan in 1911. Moved to
Ridgefield, New Jersey in 1912. Married Adon
Lacroix, legally changed name to Man Ray and
had his first solo show at the Daniel Gallery in
- Purchased first camera for documentation
purposes in 1915. Published anarchist magazine
titledTNTand separated from Adon Lacroix in - Began collaborating with Marcel Duchamp,
signed Socie ́te Anonyme Inc. manifesto, moved to
Paris and created first rayograph in 1920. Hired
Berenice Abbott as his studio assistant in 1923.Le
Violon d’Ingrespublished byLitteraturein 1924.
Hired Lee Miller as his studio assistant in 1929.
Recognized in Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism
organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New
York in 1936. Returned to New York in the
summer of 1940. Returned to Paris in 1951.
Received a gold medal for photography in Venice
in 1961. Recognized by the American Center in
Paris withSalute to Man Rayin 1967. Died in
Paris, France on 18 November 1976.
Individual Exhibitions
1915, 1916, 1919 Daniel Gallery; New Jersey
1923 ‘‘Coeur a`Barbe’’; Theatre Michel, Paris
1967 ‘‘Salute to Man Ray’’; The American Center, Paris
1971 Two Retrospectives; Boymans van Beuningen Mu-
seum, Rotterdam and Galleria Schwarz, MilanGroup Exhibitions
1920 Exhibition of Painting by American Modernists;
Museum of History, Science and Art, Los Angeles
1926 Socie ́te ́Anonyme; Brooklyn Museum, New York
1936 Fantastic Art, Dada, and Surrealism; Museum of Mod-
ern Art, New York
1985 L’Amour fou: Photography and Surrealism; Corcoran
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and traveling
1996 Rrose Is a Rrose Is a Rrose: Gender Performance in
Photography, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New
York, New YorkSelected Works
Cliche ́Verre, 1917
Dust Breeding (on Duchamp’s Large Glass), 1920
Portrait of Jean Cocteau, 1922
Rayogram, 1923
Object to be Destroyed, 1923–1932
Le Violon d’Ingres, 1924
Kiki de Montparnasse as Odalisque, ca. 1925
Noire et Blanche (Black and White), 1926
Place de la Concorde, ca. 1926
Mrs. Henry Rowell, 1929
Primacy of Matter over Thought, 1929
Sleeping Woman, 1929
La Teˆte, 1931
Les Larmes (Tears), 1932
The Lovers (My Dream), 1933Further Reading
Annear, Judy, ed.Man Ray. London and Sydney: Thames
& Hudson and Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004.
Baldwin, Neil. Man Ray, American Artist. Cambridge,
Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2001.
Krauss, Rosalind, and Jane Livingston.Amour Fou: Photo-
graphy and Surrealism, New York: Abbeville Press, 1985.
Esten, John and Willis Hartshorn.Man Ray: Bazaar Years.
New York: Rizzoli, 1988.
Foresta, Merry, ed.Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray.
New York: Abbeville Press, 1988.
Hartshorn, Willis, John Esten and Merry Foresta.Man
Ray: In Fashion. New York and Seattle: International
Center of Photography and University of Washington
Press, 1991.
de L’Ecotais, Emmanuelle and Katherine Ware.Man Ray.
Cologne: Taschen, 2004.
Penrose, Roland.Man Ray. London: Thames & Hudson,
1989.MAN RAY