of the white, nude body. But the background and the
image couldn’t heal together, so there was a line left
which he called ‘solarization’.
(Amaya, 57)Though a romantic story, it is probable that
Miller embellished the tale over the years of telling
it and the happy accident was probably caused by a
faulty darkroom light. Man Ray, however, was
methodical in recreating the technique to use in
his portraiture discovering which composite parts
of the process controlled different aspects of the
outcome. The dark background (though not always
used), was important to ensure an unexposed area
to solarize, while the lighting had to be softened not
to let the subject become too contrasty in develop-
ment for the reversal exposure to work. Miller was
to successfully use the technique in her own photo-
graphy during the 1930s, though despite her initial
involvement in creating a working and repeatable
process, it was Man Ray’s name that would come to
be associated with solarization. Though he initially
tried to keep the workings of the process secret, his
colleague Maurice Tabard published the process in
1933 (ending the friendship between the men). A
book popularizing the technique to professionals
and amateurs alike, Photographic Amusements,
was published in 1937. The technique was adopted
and used by a succession of photographers, primar-
ily Francis Bruguie`re, Wynn Bullock, Raoul Ubac,
and Edmund Kestig, specifically for its mysterious
and surreal qualities. In the 1950s, numerous ‘‘how-
to’’ articles appeared in amateur photography
books and magazines, making the technique ex-
tremely popular.
According to some critics, solarization can pro-
duce photographs of outstanding beauty but has
also been at times overused. As is often the case,
when a technique is employed purely for effect or
displaying the technical skills of the photographer,
the resulting imagery exhibits a sameness and reg-ularity that contradicts the original intentions of
its maker.
MikeCrawford
Seealso: Film; Man Ray; Manipulation; Miller,
Lee; Print Processes; Surrealism; Tabard, Maurice;
White, MinorFurther Reading
Amaya, Maria. ‘‘My Man Ray: An Interview with Lee
Miller.’’Art and AmericaMay-June (1975): 57.
Baldwin, Neil.Man Ray. New York: Clarkson N. Potter
Inc., 1988.
I’Ecotais, Emmanuelle de.Photography and its Double.
Hamburg: Gingko Press, 1998.
Jolly, William, L.Solarization Demystified. Berkeley, Cali-
fornia: University of California, 1997.
Livingston, Jane.Lee Miller: Photographer. New York:
California International Arts Foundation/Thames and
Hudson, 1989.
Penrose, Antony.The Lives of Lee Miller. London: Thames
and Hudson, 1985.Man Ray, Solarization, 1929, solarized gelatin silver print,
23.029.7 cm, Museum Purchase; ex-collection Man Ray.
[Photograph courtesy of George Eastman House,# 2004
Man Ray Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/
ADAGP, Paris]SOLARIZATION