Man Ray
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"HE [THE ARTIST] uncovers the pure plane of expression that has so long been hidden by the glazings of nature imitation, anecdote and other popular subjects." In these words, written for the Forum Exhibition of 1916 at the Anderson Galleries in New York, Man Ray announced his participation in the revolt against naturalism in art which had begun with the postimpressionists and continued in more extreme form with the cubists and abstractionists. He was one of the first --and most fervent--of American painters to join the struggle against the old traditions of realism and storytelling.
Born in Philadelphia in 1890, Man Ray had been trained as an architect and engineer before deciding to become a painter. Like many of his insurrectionary compatriots, he was stirred by the Armory Show of 1913. After that famous event, his art became more and more abstract. But Man Ray's closest affinity was with those painters who brought to abstraction a sense of ironic mockery, quite different from cubism's unyielding solemnity. He was associated with Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia in the short-lived but brilliant New York Dada movement during World War I; his Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows is one of the movement's most memorable images.
From the mid- 1920's on, Man Ray was an active member of surrealism's inner circle in Paris, working as a painter and also, with growing absorption, as a photographer. In photography he flatly rejected the premise of truth-to-medium urged by many of his colleagues. He felt free to manipulate both negatives and prints in any way that suited his purpose--enlarging, cropping, distorting, solarizing, etc. The result was a remarkable series of quite abstract photographic prints known as "rayographs" and a number of the most revealing portraits of our era.
Ray: I have no particular aims or beliefs about painting. If at times I have been associated with various schools, it is simply because my work at the time seemed to run a parallel course. And I have always accepted and been flattered by unconditional invitations, whatever the school.
Pleasure and the pursuit of liberty are the guiding motives of my work.
I do not know what is good or bad in painting as neither has ever hurt me nor anyone else. There are plenty of self-appointed specialists to decide this question. If I must choose between being original or being profound, I certainly prefer originality. I believe that if I am so built, the most superficial effort I make will have meaning; and if I am basically superficial, all my efforts at significance will be of no avail. Again I prefer to leave the decision to others.
Oh yes, there is another motive: I consider all creative work an escape from the competitive life. This is what distinguishes us from the rest of nature.
I could go on and fill a book, but for the time being I am painting, so if you are interested, try and look at my paintings.
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