1890 – 1976:
Born Emmanuel Rudzitsky in 1890, in Philadelphia, United States, died in 1976, in Paris, France, is a painter, photographer and film director, actor of Dadaism in New York, then of Surrealism in Paris. His career began in New York. With his close friend Marcel Duchamp, they formed the American branch of the Dada movement. After some unsuccessful artistic experiments, and in particular a publication on New York Dada in 1920, Man Ray concluded that “Dada cannot live in New York”. On July 14, 1921, Man Ray disembarked in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), then arrived in Paris, at the St-Lazare station where Marcel Duchamp welcomed him. That same evening, he was introduced to the surrealists Louis Aragon, André Breton, Paul Éluard and Gala, Théodore Fraenkel, Jacques Rigaut and Philippe Soupault. He settled in the Montparnasse district, met and fell in love with the French singer and model Kiki de Montparnasse. He also met the fashion designer Paul Poiret. He took many fashion photographs that were published in magazines and helped to make him famous. To his great regret, he never had the opportunity to take a portrait of the fashion designer. In his memoir, he confided that when Paul Poiret died, he sent a photo of the fashion designer’s personal physician to a newspaper as a portrait of Poiret and this photo was published as such. With Jean Arp, Max Ernst, André Masson, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, he presented his works at the first surrealist exhibition at the Pierre gallery in Paris in 1925. In Montparnasse, for thirty years, Man Ray revolutionized the art of photography. The great artists of his time posed under his lens, such as James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and Jean Cocteau. He helped to promote the work of Eugène Atget, whom he introduced to the surrealists and his assistant Berenice Abbott. In 1934, Meret Oppenheim posed for Man Ray, this series of nude photos became one of his most famous series. In 1940, after the defeat of France, Man Ray managed to reach Lisbon and embarked for the United States in the company of Salvador and Gala Dalí and the filmmaker René Clair. After a few days in New York, he reached the west coast with the plan of leaving the country for Tahiti where he would stay for a few years. Arriving in Hollywood, he received exhibition offers, met a woman, Juliet, and decided to start painting again. He became Satrap of the Collège de ‘Pataphysique in 1963.
