Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Raywas an American visual artist who spent most of his career in France. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal. He produced major works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all. He was best known for his photography, and he was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. Man Ray is also noted for his work with photograms, which he called "rayographs" in reference...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth27 August 1890
CityPhiladelphia, PA
CountryUnited States of America
Each one of us, in his timidity, has a limit beyond which he is outraged. It is inevitable that he who by concentrated application has extended this limit for himself, should arouse the resentment of those who have accepted conventions which, since accepted by all, require no initiative of application. And this resentment generally takes the form of meaningless laughter or of criticism, if not persecution.
I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence.
To create is divine, to reproduce is human.
My works were designed to amuse, annoy, bewilder, mystify and inspire reflection.
Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.
When I saw I was under attack from all sides, I knew I was on the right track.
A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture you need a camera, a photographer and above all a subject. It is the subject that determines the interest of the photograph.
To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society.
I would photograph an idea rather than an object, a dream rather than an idea.
Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.