Man Ray (1890 -1976) - The Gift - circa 1921

Expertissim proposes today to discover or rediscover one of the emblematic artists of the 20th century, the aptly named Man Ray in timely connection with the sale of one of his most famous works.

 

A Dadaist in New York.

American artist originally from Pennsylvania, Man Ray, was born as Emmanuel Radnitzky on August 27, 1890 and died in Paris in November 1976. It was his elder brother who changed the family name to protect them from rising anti-Semitism in 1912. As for Emmanuel, his nickname was Manny and he adopted Man later.

 

Being Jewish, Mason Klein, curator at the Museum of Jewish Art, New York, said that Man Ray was probably the first Jewish avant-garde artist. Having an early passion for the arts and showing numerous talents, he learned drafting at the Boy's High School. He then furthered his artistic education on his own by visiting many museums. He received a scholarship to study architecture but preferred working on the purest of art, drawing, contrary to his family’s expectations. Despite the disappointment, they arranged an artist’s studio in their apartment so that he could devote himself to his art. He became a painting artist and worked as an illustrator for companies in Manhattan. Initially, he used much of his experience and personal knowledge in his works. Thus much of his production contained references to sewing for his mother was a seamstress such as needles, mannequins, iron plates, pincushions and, etc.

He attempted to resume earlier styles from painters of the 19th century. But soon, he began admiring avant-gardists and modernists. He enrolled in 1912 at the Ferrer School  where he quickly developed his own style. After his move to Manhattan, he soon befriended with Marcel Duchamp and started working on movement and its decomposition. He also met Francis Picabia, a French artist visiting New York. His first solo exhibition was held in 1915. Following that meeting, he then joined the Dada movement and formed with Duchamp its American branch. With this movement he produced his first Readymades under the influence of Duchamp. Together they created the Société Anonyme, the first contemporary art museum in the U.S. But after many artistic failures, Man Ray and Duchamp concluded that Dada could not thrive in New York.  New York was already too "dada". They therefore chose to go into exile in Paris to continue working in this movement.

 

The readymade, a pure product that is not artistic according to Dada.

The readymade was a pure invention of Dada and remains its emblematic work. It was Marcel Duchamp who honored it with his fountain which was a urinal. Dada sought to be totally innovative and willing to wipe the slate clean and rid all old references. They advocated a deconstruction of the art and the notion of artistic value for a work for it must have no meaning for them. Disrespectful of old art icons they were only interested in the creative freedom offered by the materials, objects, and various techniques.

With the mindset of desecration of artworks the readymade was scheduled for rollout. It involved taking an object away from its reality, everyday life, and having no real interest in its origin. Then with the artist’s sheer will the object becomes a work of art. The bottle drying rack by Duchamp was the first in this genre and Man Ray, influenced by his friend, will also realize it. The readymade can take several forms. There was the pure readymade - a simple object placed without artifice or additions. There were also the "ready made aidé" (playing with French words as defined by Duchamp) for which the artist added more elements to the base object for presentation, adorning, etc.  The Surrealist object was therefore in the words of Lautréamont "Beautiful as the chance encounter of an umbrella and a sewing machine on a dissecting table". They assembled unexpected objects without a priori and connection between them in order to create a surprise effect. The artists researched to create confusion between different realities each induced by varied assembled objects. “The Gift” by Man Ray was one of those. He worked on the unexpected. It has been said that he often did not foresee his compositions in advance. He assembled two opposite

things contradicting one another. On one regard is a pretty basic ordinary object, the iron. Then he fused thumbtacks hence preventing any use of the iron. Furthermore there is more opposition against the aggressive side being the dangerous thumbtacks because the artwork’s title, the Gift, has gentle overtones. The usual object has acquired a new life for the artist has showcased it as being art.  But one wonders what does this disparate and illogical assemblage mean.  Some viewed it as an opposition or a complementarity of the iron. The iron is linked to the female by its function and the thumbtacks are symbols of strength and masculinity. This Gift was made in collaboration with Eric Satie, the composer. If the original was lost after its completion, it would have been more immortalized by Man Ray himself who had taken a photograph. It was copied many times and produced about 5000 pieces.

 

His life in Paris: City of surreal images.

Man Ray went to Paris to develop his art of photography and imaging. In fact he is known for being an exceptional Surrealist photographer. He befriended in 1921 the Surrealist artists Louis Aragon, Andre Breton, and Paul Eluard. It was at Montparnasse where he met Alice Prin, known as Kiki of Montparnasse, muse and model for many artists. She became his favorite model and posed for his composition "Le Violon d'Ingres," for which he "juxtaposes" a photo of the model against a work by Ingres. He moved from Dada to Surrealism. Members of both groups separated around 1926.

He realized many advertising photographs. This type of demand was soaring in Paris between the two wars. His experiments in photography revolutionized the art of photography as we knew then. He worked on the solarization technique, but will mostly amaze with photograms which he called rayograms (pun on his name: Ray / gram). This technique involved negative images being interposed by an object between a sensitive paper and a source of light. He thus created ghostly images of objects, purely surreal. Among his more emblematic works include those made for a power company. These photographs raised the question, by their appearance, the status of the object represented but also the state of photography itself, the gateway to another sensible world.

Major artists such as Antonin Artaud, of course Marcel Duchamp, but also Jean Cocteau and Gertrude Stein sat before his camera. His series of photographs of Meret Oppenheim were a great success. He also immortalized Duchamp's artworks by photographing the readymades and compositions like the bottle of perfume "Belle Haleine" created by the artist and his alter ego Rrose Selavy. He ceased photography in the 1930s and also prepared a manifesto supporting the idea that photography was not an artistic activity.

He then worked on film. The avant-garde cinema, regarded by them was a more pure cinema which required full attention. He directed and worked on short films, highlighting the lines, colors, composition, forms and not necessarily the subject. Emak-Bakia of 1926 and Les Mystères du Château de Dé )(The Mysteries of the Dice Castle) in 1929 were two short-cuts attributed to him. He also participated in movies with other artists like Duchamp's Anemic Cinema and  Fernand Leger’s Ballet Mécanique. Often in these short films of mechanical images can be found the construction of the film reel itself.

Man Ray returned to the United States in 1940 following the French defeat. He did not return to Paris until 20 years later after publishing his autobiography in 1963.

 

He is now buried in Montparnasse with the epitaph "détaché, mais pas indifférent"(unconcerned, but not indifferent) which could summarize his work and the life of this artist.

 

Suzanne Kabanda (student at the IESA)


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