Man Ray was born as Emmanuel Radnitzky in 1892 to a Russian Jewish immigrant family in Philadelphia. The family soon relocated to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. Here, is where Ray spent most of his childhood. In high school, Ray Learned freehand drawing, drafting and the basic techniques of architecture and engineering. While he was growing up you worked hard towards becoming a painter, so he took odd jobs working as a commercial artist.
While he lived in New York, he would often visit galleries and museums; he became attracted to contemporary avant-garde art from Europe. In 1912, he enrolled in the Ferrer School and became developing as a serious artist. His most influential work four example, Glass Tears and most of his photograph/photograms. Also his fashion photography for Vogue and Vanity Fair were produced around this time.
In 1924 Man Ray hired someone to be his assistant artist. She soon became his lover and the subject in his photographs for three years. During their time together, they reinvented 'solarisation'. Solarisation is a photography process in which the image recorded on a photographic print is fully or partially reversed in tone. This means that the dark areas appear light and the light areas appear dark. While he was trying to develop his photographs in the darkroom, Ray discovered a technique to process photographic paper called 'photogram'. This is a process that is also called camera-less photography and emerged in various avant-garde contexts in the early 1920s. A photogram is a process in which you use light sensitive photographic paper and expose it with an enlarger machine, with objects placed onto the paper to create transparency or an opaque colour. He nicknamed this process 'Rayograms'. Ray explored this technique for more than 40 years and in the process he created many of his most important work, including two portfolio books entitled 'Champs Délicieux' and 'Électricité'. Although many of Man Ray's work is in the photography field, he did work in a variety of other media, including painting, writing and film.
Sadly in 1940, Ray was forced to leave France because of the war and so he decided to move to Los Angeles in America. Here he met his last wife, Juliet Browner and they later married in 1946. However, back in 1944, Ray had his first retrospective. This is an exhibition showing the development of an artist work over a period of time. This was held at the Pasadena Art Institute and this showcased most of Man Ray's paintings, drawings, watercolours, and photography from his thirty-year span as an artist. While living in Hollywood, his career still grew and he became very successful. However, Ray was unsatisfied with the city having a lack of interesting or exciting qualities and he felt as if he didn't have the kind of appreciation that he deserved. Ray thought that American critics didn't believe that he could go from one medium to another and ultimately his success in commercial photography confused them.
Eventually, Ray decided to return back to Montparnasse, France in 1951. And upon his arrival, he began writing his autobiography to explain himself to the people who couldn't understand or misinterpreted his work. Later in 1963, Man Ray released his book called 'Self-portrait'. Shortly after, he died at the age of 86 in 1976 from a lung infection. However, the whole time leading up to his death, he continued to work on new paintings, photographs, collages and more.
The main subject in this photo is the flower and it's arranged in the centre of the frame. The important elements in the frame is the centre of the flower. It almost looks as if it is an explosion in the centre of the picture. As I look at the image my eye is automatically drawn to the middle. The gentile of the photo is the most in focus and as the flower extends to the petals it becomes more blurry. The petals on the flower are the most blurry because it was not pressed in glass when it was on the light-sensitive photographic paper when it was being exposed. Towards the centre of the flower, there is a strong contrast between the light and dark. However, on the ends of the petals in almost fades into the background. Ray created this photogram by using the enlarger machine to expose the piece of photographic paper with the flower placed on top of it. Then either using a large machine that develops, fixes and then drys the print or just simply using the chemicals in itself with the required time.
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