Man Ray

The New York-born painter and photographer Emmanuel Radnitzky took on his pseudonym, Man Ray, in 1909. He was inspired by avant-garde artists through Alfred Stieglitz’s gallery 291 and the groundbreaking Armory show exhibits. He started out as a painter but later developed his own variant of the photogram: the rayograph, calling it ‘painting with light’. Man Ray was also the great inspiration behind the US Dada and Surrealism movements. In 1921 he made a trip to Paris and ended up staying there for 20 years, playing an important part in the international Dada and Surrealism circles.