1890-1976

Man Ray was born in Philadelphia and attended the National Academy of Design, New York, where he met Marcel Duchamp, with whom he founded the Société Anonyme.  Man Ray began making Cubist works that evolved into abstract Dadaist paintings and collages that revealed his interest in layering.  Produced in 1922, his Rayographs were prints made on photographic paper directly exposed to light and objects without the use of a camera.  Man Ray’s visual invention laid image planes on each other like the glass skins of modern buildings – transparent, yet substantive.  He moved to Paris and joined the Surrealist circle, which included André Breton.  His photographs have been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art.