Under the Surface: Surrealist Photography

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Man Ray, Space Writing (Self-Portrait), 1935

Posted on February 6, 2014 //

by Andrea Rosen, Curator of Under the Surface.

Ever interested in light and movement, Man Ray created Space Writing (Self-Portrait) by opening the shutter of his camera for a prolonged exposure and drawing with a penlight in the air. Man Ray appears only as a dark, blurred figure in the background. His doodled outline, his scribbled name in the center (which appears backwards to the viewer of the photograph), and the artworks in his studio behind him stand in as representations of self. Man Ray, born Emmanuel Rudnitsky, was the most influential and widely known surrealist photographer. Having received early success as a painter in New York City, he moved to Paris in 1921, where he practiced commercial portrait photography to support himself. While he continued to consider himself foremost a painter, his experimental photography gained him worldwide renown.

Image details:
Man Ray (American, 1890–1976)
Space Writing (Self-Portrait), 1935
Gelatin silver print
Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund  1987.15
© 2014 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris

 

Related posts:

  1. Man Ray, Space Writing (Self-Portrait), 1935
  2. Man Ray, Space Writing (Self-Portrait), 1935
  3. Frederick Sommer, Max Ernst, 1946
  4. George Platt Lynes, Portrait of Thomas Bacon, ca. 1938

Filed Under: By Curator, Portraiture // Tagged: Man Ray, technical manipulation

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André Kertész Erwin Blumenfeld Eugène Atget Frederick Sommer George Platt Lynes Grete Stern Henri Cartier-Bresson Man Ray Manuel Álvarez Bravo multiple exposure photomontage technical manipulation

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