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Man Ray: American Artist
The definitive biography of one of the most influential surrealists and a quintessential modernist. Figure-painter, sculptor, photographer, filmmaker, and collagist, Ray was born Emmanuel Radnitsky in Brooklyn. This book traces his American upbringing and his departure for Europe plus his work in painting, sculpture, photography, and filmmaking. Although he wasn't successful in all media, Man Ray nonetheless had his own style and vision. Baldwin's portrait was the first full-length biography of Man Ray. This edition has a new intro by the author updating the artist's story.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 17, 2008
As far as I know the first straight ahead biography on the artist and portrait photographer Man Ray. A fascinating figure who just had a taste for what was happening in the avant-garde art world - and went for it. Became a very close friend of Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray also documented his artwork as well as other artist's works as well. Plus photographed all the great personalities of that period.
In my opinion he's not as consistant as Duchamp with respect to his art, but nevertheless a very good artist - with Photography being his best medium.
In my opinion he's not as consistant as Duchamp with respect to his art, but nevertheless a very good artist - with Photography being his best medium.
May 2, 2021
Man Ray was not the type of person it would be easy to write about. True, it is possible to research all the significant details of his life. There is no shortage of information just as there is no shortage of people who knew him. But he did not have the kind of personality that is easy to grasp. Neil Baldwin’s biography Man Ray: American Artist is as good an attempt as you will be likely to find. This author largely succeeds because he realized that Man Ray’s inner core was expressed primarily through his art.
Emmanuel Radnitsky was born in Brooklyn to a family of Jewish-Russian immigrants. They were typical, hardworking greenhorns but the boy, who later changed his name to Man Ray, spent his life keeping them at a distance even though he loved them dearly. He always wanted to break free from his past and after becoming an adult, his family was never able to get to know him. Why he sought such distance from his family remains mysterious though Baldwin does make some attempt to understand.
An easier to understand dilemma is the disdain Man Ray had for the United States. The author tells the story of his younger years as an aspiring poet, painter, and photographer. He became friends with the legendary Alfred Stieglitz and quickly caught on to the spirit of Modernism as it was expressed in art. But art critics and, most importantly, art collectors did not take to his experimental style and so Man Ray left for Paris where he would live out most of the rest of his life.
It was in France that Man Ray’s career and social life really took off. Baldwin describes these times as what is now acknowledged as the stereotypical bohemian starving artist. Details of his fleeting relationships with women are told as well as his friendships with all the major figures in early 20th century art. Man Ray was deeply immersed in the Dada and Surrealist schools of modernism and the avant-garde. Baldwin’s biography contains a lot of name-dropping and the likes of Andre Breton, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dali, Tristan Tzara, and so many others keep cropping up throughout the text. Most importantly, Man Ray’s lifelong friendship with fellow artist and chess opponent Marcel Duchamp is given plenty of space. One criticism that can be made of this biography is that Neil Baldwin goes off on too many tangents about artists Man Ray knew, often detailing their activities when they have no direct connection to anything Man Ray was associated with. Some of it comes across as filler at times. And even though Man Ray’s social life is thoroughly described, as a human being it seems as thought the reader never really gets inside his head. That is not entirely the author’s fault since Man Ray was not an easy man to know despite the wide circle of friends and acquaintances he maintained.
Most importantly, the story of Man Ray’s art is at the center of the story. Although Man Ray spent his life obsessively promoting himself as a painter and sculptor, it was his photography that brought him fame. His rayographs and solarizations were radical new ways of developing film that changed the ways people and objects could be seen in terms of the photographic medium. He also made a name for himself with his fashion shoots for Vogue magazine but his portraits were the pinnacle of his artistic success. These quickly executed black and white photos all drew a definite mood out of his subjects, most of which were famous at the time he photographed them. A lot of them have the same sad, defiant, haunted, but humanly warm expression; after seeing enough of these photographs, the viewer might realize that many of these faces resemble Man Ray himself as if he projected his own image into other people and then drew it out with the camera.
In his later years, Man Ray relentlessly promoted his paintings and downplayed his photographic works. Neil Baldwin points out the irony in this since it was during the times of his lecture tours in America that his photography took off in popularity. Dealers and collectors went on a rampage, hunting for his prints while Man Ray himself kept telling everyone his photos were not real art since they were only done for commercial purposes. It seems odd that a starving artist like himself would discourage the sale of his most sought after works at a time when they were fetching premium prices in the art market. Was this actually a reverse-psychology sales pitch? Or was he, as Baldwin suggests, embracing the Dadaist game of irrationality? Maybe Man Ray was so involved in his art that he simply couldn’t see what other people saw in him. In any case, while his popularity grew, the vicious American art critics continued to lambaste him; art critics often seem to be people who don’t really understand art anyways.
Neil Baldwin portrays Man Ray as an enigma. Socially he was prickly and superficially surly but those who persisted with sincerity found him to be a good companion. He was a man who spent his life trying to leave his past behind. He distanced himself from his family, his country, and himself. Up until the end of his life he continued trying to make art that never resembled the works he did in the past as if he wanted there to be no continuity between any of the images he created throughout his life. Man Ray said that if you want to get to know him, get to know his art. That is not always easy because one concept that does resonate all throughout his oeuvre is the juxtaposition, the contradiction, and the impossibility of relating his images to each other. We will never know for sure what went on in his mind because Man Ray is dead and his art is all we have. Neil Baldwin does a fair job of shining a light into this darkness so that we can at least guess at what it was all about.
Emmanuel Radnitsky was born in Brooklyn to a family of Jewish-Russian immigrants. They were typical, hardworking greenhorns but the boy, who later changed his name to Man Ray, spent his life keeping them at a distance even though he loved them dearly. He always wanted to break free from his past and after becoming an adult, his family was never able to get to know him. Why he sought such distance from his family remains mysterious though Baldwin does make some attempt to understand.
An easier to understand dilemma is the disdain Man Ray had for the United States. The author tells the story of his younger years as an aspiring poet, painter, and photographer. He became friends with the legendary Alfred Stieglitz and quickly caught on to the spirit of Modernism as it was expressed in art. But art critics and, most importantly, art collectors did not take to his experimental style and so Man Ray left for Paris where he would live out most of the rest of his life.
It was in France that Man Ray’s career and social life really took off. Baldwin describes these times as what is now acknowledged as the stereotypical bohemian starving artist. Details of his fleeting relationships with women are told as well as his friendships with all the major figures in early 20th century art. Man Ray was deeply immersed in the Dada and Surrealist schools of modernism and the avant-garde. Baldwin’s biography contains a lot of name-dropping and the likes of Andre Breton, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dali, Tristan Tzara, and so many others keep cropping up throughout the text. Most importantly, Man Ray’s lifelong friendship with fellow artist and chess opponent Marcel Duchamp is given plenty of space. One criticism that can be made of this biography is that Neil Baldwin goes off on too many tangents about artists Man Ray knew, often detailing their activities when they have no direct connection to anything Man Ray was associated with. Some of it comes across as filler at times. And even though Man Ray’s social life is thoroughly described, as a human being it seems as thought the reader never really gets inside his head. That is not entirely the author’s fault since Man Ray was not an easy man to know despite the wide circle of friends and acquaintances he maintained.
Most importantly, the story of Man Ray’s art is at the center of the story. Although Man Ray spent his life obsessively promoting himself as a painter and sculptor, it was his photography that brought him fame. His rayographs and solarizations were radical new ways of developing film that changed the ways people and objects could be seen in terms of the photographic medium. He also made a name for himself with his fashion shoots for Vogue magazine but his portraits were the pinnacle of his artistic success. These quickly executed black and white photos all drew a definite mood out of his subjects, most of which were famous at the time he photographed them. A lot of them have the same sad, defiant, haunted, but humanly warm expression; after seeing enough of these photographs, the viewer might realize that many of these faces resemble Man Ray himself as if he projected his own image into other people and then drew it out with the camera.
In his later years, Man Ray relentlessly promoted his paintings and downplayed his photographic works. Neil Baldwin points out the irony in this since it was during the times of his lecture tours in America that his photography took off in popularity. Dealers and collectors went on a rampage, hunting for his prints while Man Ray himself kept telling everyone his photos were not real art since they were only done for commercial purposes. It seems odd that a starving artist like himself would discourage the sale of his most sought after works at a time when they were fetching premium prices in the art market. Was this actually a reverse-psychology sales pitch? Or was he, as Baldwin suggests, embracing the Dadaist game of irrationality? Maybe Man Ray was so involved in his art that he simply couldn’t see what other people saw in him. In any case, while his popularity grew, the vicious American art critics continued to lambaste him; art critics often seem to be people who don’t really understand art anyways.
Neil Baldwin portrays Man Ray as an enigma. Socially he was prickly and superficially surly but those who persisted with sincerity found him to be a good companion. He was a man who spent his life trying to leave his past behind. He distanced himself from his family, his country, and himself. Up until the end of his life he continued trying to make art that never resembled the works he did in the past as if he wanted there to be no continuity between any of the images he created throughout his life. Man Ray said that if you want to get to know him, get to know his art. That is not always easy because one concept that does resonate all throughout his oeuvre is the juxtaposition, the contradiction, and the impossibility of relating his images to each other. We will never know for sure what went on in his mind because Man Ray is dead and his art is all we have. Neil Baldwin does a fair job of shining a light into this darkness so that we can at least guess at what it was all about.
June 28, 2008
I got this book from my dad who somehow knows the author. I used this book as a catalyst to write a paper on his work.
April 5, 2023
Just when I think I have a pretty solid understanding of the history of modern art, I read a book like this one and realize how little I know.
In his Acknowledgements at the close of the book the author writes, "Because I set out to make the biography a fundamentally anecdotal work, I decided to harvest the impressions of a multitude, with no specific notions of how large the Man Ray crowd might become." The end-result is a thoroughly researched biography, albeit with a dizzying cast of characters--many of whom were interviewed by the author.
One of the most interesting themes is Man Ray's ambivalence (at best) about his photography and his stubborn determination to be taken seriously as a painter. The final verdict on Man Ray's career has probably not yet been delivered (and the author offers no opinions of his own on that) but it seems likely that he will be regarded as one of the great modern artists but not in the way he desired.
In his Acknowledgements at the close of the book the author writes, "Because I set out to make the biography a fundamentally anecdotal work, I decided to harvest the impressions of a multitude, with no specific notions of how large the Man Ray crowd might become." The end-result is a thoroughly researched biography, albeit with a dizzying cast of characters--many of whom were interviewed by the author.
One of the most interesting themes is Man Ray's ambivalence (at best) about his photography and his stubborn determination to be taken seriously as a painter. The final verdict on Man Ray's career has probably not yet been delivered (and the author offers no opinions of his own on that) but it seems likely that he will be regarded as one of the great modern artists but not in the way he desired.
December 29, 2022
Oof. This is basically a 350+ page encyclopedia entry. Marriages, divorces, friends, crop up and die off with as much fanfare as clouds dissipating on a foggy day. We barely touch the surface of Man Ray. Information feels random, cherry-picked, and beaten into objectivity.
June 22, 2015
Detailed and thorough, I found myself quite surprised reading the story. Whether the biographer's handling or a matter of fact, I found many ways to personally relate to the artist. And I recieved confirmation of a vaporous uncertainty, that the climate around this artist, from study to exchange, is in many ways much more radical and engaged than the art world I'm encountering today.
Read
September 14, 2018“Standard” style biography. Some parts unnecessarily dramatized. Not much substance to the treatment of the artwork.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews