Born Emmanuel Radnitzky, Man Ray was a famous American filmmaker, painter and photographer. His career is distinctive, above all, for the success he achieved in both the United States and Europe. First maturing at the center of American modernism in the 1910s, he made Paris his home in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1940s, he crossed the Atlantic once again and spent periods in New York and Hollywood.
Ray’s art spanned painting, sculpture, film, prints and poetry, and in his long career, he worked in styles influenced by Cubism, Futurism, Dada and Surrealism. He also successfully navigated the worlds of commercial and fine art and came to be a sought-after fashion photographer. Ray is perhaps most remembered for his photographs of the inter-war years, in particular, the camera-less pictures he called "Rayographs," but he always regarded himself first and foremost as a painter. Although he matured as an abstract painter, Ray eventually disregarded the traditional superiority painting held over photography and happily moved between different forms. Dada and Surrealism were important in encouraging this attitude; they also persuaded him that the idea that motivates a work of art was more important than the work of art itself.
André Breton once described Ray as a pre-Surrealist, something which accurately describes his natural affinity for the style. Even before the movement had coalesced, in the mid-1920s, his work, influenced by Marcel Duchamp, had Surrealist undertones. He would continue to draw on the movement's ideas throughout his life. Ray's work has ultimately been very important in popularizing Surrealism.
Find original Man Ray art on 1stDibs.
| Average Sold Price |
| $1,519 |
| Styles |
| Materials |
| Related Artists |
$1,500
H 20 in W 16 in D 1 in
MAN RAY (1890-1976), RAYOGRAPH, 1923 Photogravure, FIRST EDITION
By Man Ray
Located in Pembroke Pines, FL
Artist: Man Ray (American born, 1890 - 1976) Title: RAYOGRAPH Date Of Negative: 1923 Type Of Print: Authentic Vintage Sheet Fed Photogravure/Heliogravure. Date Of Print: 1934 1st Edi...
Photogravure
$1,500
H 20 in W 16 in D 1 in
MAN RAY (1890-1976), FEMALE NUDE, 1930 Photogravure, FIRST EDITION
By Man Ray
Located in Pembroke Pines, FL
Artist: Man Ray (American born, 1890 - 1976) Title: FEMALE NUDE Date Of Negative: 1930 Type Of Print: Authentic Vintage Sheet Fed Photogravure/Heliogravure. Date Of Print: 1934 1st E...
Photogravure
$1,500
H 20 in W 16 in D 1 in
MAN RAY (1890-1976), MRS ROWELL, 1930 Photogravure, FIRST EDITION
By Man Ray
Located in Pembroke Pines, FL
Artist: Man Ray (American born, 1890 - 1976) Title: MRS ROWELL Date Of Negative: 1930 Type Of Print: Authentic Vintage Sheet Fed Photogravure/Heliogravure. Date Of Print: 1934 1st Ed...
Photogravure
$1,500
H 20 in W 16 in D 1 in
MAN RAY (1890-1976), SURREAL MODERNIST ABSTRAC, 1934 Photogravure, FIRST EDITION
By Man Ray
Located in Pembroke Pines, FL
Artist: Man Ray (American born, 1890 - 1976) Title: SURREAL MODERNIST ABSTRACT Date Of Negative: 1934 Type Of Print: Authentic Vintage Sheet Fed Photogravure/Heliogravure. Date Of Pr...
Photogravure
Do Not Destroy (Object Indestructable)
By Man Ray
Located in New York, NY
Wood and metal metronome with printed eye. Initialed and numbered 16/200 in felt tip pen and ink on printed label on bottom of object. Published by the New York Cultural center. Con...
Metal
$18,000
H 27 in W 21 in D 0.5 in
Hands, Mid Century mod Surrealist mixed media Signed/N (Gemini 20 Anselmino 61)
By Man Ray
Located in New York, NY
MAN RAY Hands, 1966 Silkscreen on Plexiglass Published by Gemini GEL Measurements: Image: 20"h x 16"w sheet plexi: 25.5"h x 19.5"w overall (with frame): 26.75"h x 20.75"w. Edition ...
Screen, Plexiglass
$1,500
H 20 in W 16 in D 1 in
MAN RAY (1890-1976), SURREAL DISTORTED HOUSE, 1920 Photogravure, FIRST EDITION
By Man Ray
Located in Pembroke Pines, FL
Artist: Man Ray (American born, 1890 - 1976) Title: SURREAL DISTORTED HOUSE REFLECTION Date Of Negative: 1920 Type Of Print: Authentic Vintage Sheet Fed Photogravure/Heliogravure. Da...
Photogravure
Untitled - Etching by Man Ray - 1976
By Man Ray
Located in Roma, IT
Untitled is an artwork realized by Man Ray (1890 - 1976) in 1970. Etching and aquatint from the series Les Anatomes. Aquatint etching on lana paper. Hand signed and numbered. Edition 13/100. Image 43 x 31.8 cm; Sheet 66 x 50.8 cm. Ref. Anselmino 70. Very Good condition. Man Ray was born in Philadelphia into a family of Russian immigrants of Jewish origin. He grew up in New York where he completed his studies. Here he works in 1908 as a draftsman and graphic designer. In 1912 he began to sign his works with the pseudonym "Man Ray", which means ray man. He buys his first camera in 1914, to photograph his works of art. In 1915 the collector Walter Conrad Arensberg presented it to Marcel Duchamp, with whom he would become a great friend. The three founded the Society of Independent Artists. In 1919 he painted his first airbrushes, images produced with an airbrush, a commonly used retouching tool for a graphic designer. In New York, with Marcel Duchamp he formed the American branch of the Dada movement which began in Europe as a radical rejection of traditional art, but was not very successful. In 1921 Duchamp returned to Paris and Man Ray followed him. In Paris Duchamp introduced him to the most influential artists of France, including André Breton and Philippe Soupault. Soupault hosted the first exhibition of Man Ray in his library, where the famous work Cadeau was exhibited. Man Ray's Parisian success is due to his skill as a photographer, especially as a portraitist. Famous artists of the time, such as James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau and many others, posed in front of his camera. In 1922 Man Ray produced his first frames, which he called rayographs (rayographies), or photographic images obtained by placing objects directly on sensitive paper. in 1924 surrealism was officially born, Man Ray was the first surrealist photographer. The production of his research work goes hand in hand with the publication of his fashion photographs in Vogue. He falls in love with the famous French singer Alice Prin...
Etching
| Sold Date | Sold Price | Category | Medium | Creation Year | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| $1,519 |
Average sold price of items in the past 12 months |
| $290-$4,200 |
| Sold price range of items in the past 12 months |
Donated by John Pritzker, the collection includes works by Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and more.
One of the 20th century's most important female photographers is finally being recognized as a daring and seminal artist.