Art Section 2 (Modernist Photography)

What did many modernist photographers retain despite working outside aesthetic conventions?

Traditional processes and materials.

What did Man Ray's photographic work experiment with?

T techniques of photo-making and ways to push photographic materials.

What photographic materials did Man Ray experiment with pushing to their limits?

Paper and chemicals.

What was Man Ray looking for by pushing photographic materials to their limits?

New forms of representation.

What was Man Ray's birth name?

Emmanuel Radnitzky.

In what year was Man Ray born?

1890.

What was the heritage of Man Ray's parents?

Russian Jewish immigrants.

Where did Man Ray spend most of his childhood and youth?

New York City.

From which Ashcan artists did Man Ray learn drawing?

Robert Henri and George Bellows.

Whose works on display did Man Ray soon become more interested in?

Alfred Stieglitz's 291 gallery.

With which French artist did Man Ray become friendly during the artist's time in New York?

Marcel Duchamp.

On what did Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp collaborate?

Several occasions.

In what year did Man Ray follow Duchamp back to Paris?

1921.

How long did Man Ray stay in Paris after moving there in 1921?

Until the outbreak of the Second World War.

What event forced Man Ray to return to the United States from Paris?

The outbreak of the Second World War.

With whom did Man Ray become acquainted in France?

Members of the Dada and Surrealism movements.

Name three figures in the French Surrealism movement that Man Ray knew.

André Breton, Tristan Tzara, and Salvador Dalí.

Who was the founder of Surrealism?

André Breton.

In what year was Surrealism officially launched?

1924.

What event marked the official launch of Surrealism?

André Breton published his Manifesto of Surrealism.

Besides visual art, what other forms did Surrealism encompass?

Literature, poetry, theater, and film.

What partly inspired the Surrealist movement?

Writings on dreams and the unconscious by Sigmund Freud.

What other movement partly inspired Surrealism?

The Dada movement.

What aspect of the Dada movement influenced Surrealism?

Its focus on randomness.

What did Surrealism embrace to unlock the viewer's unconscious mind?

Strange juxtapositions, uncanny imagery, and chance encounters.

What did Man Ray write that an artist could rely on to create innovative work?

Their own "limitless" capacity for "subconscious energy."

What form of creation did many Surrealists use?

Automatism.

What did automatism involve in writing or drawing?

Writing or drawing without any preconceived plan.

How did Breton describe the lack of control in automatic drawing?

Without using "any control exerted by reason."

What might the results of automatic drawing show?

Fixations of the artist's unconscious revealed by idle doodling.

Name three artists who used automatism.

André Masson, Joan Miró, and Paul Klee.

What did artists like René Magritte, Max Ernst, Dalí, and Giorgio di Chirico create?

Carefully composed images evoking dreamlike scenarios or placing unexpected objects in conversation.

In which country was Surrealism most prevalent?

France.

Name three other regions where Surrealist movements existed.

Belgium, Spain, Italy, Latin America, and the United States (after WWII).

What forms did Surrealist photography take?

Many forms, similar to Surrealist painting and drawing.

How did Dora Maar create jarring juxtapositions in her photography?

Spliced together multiple negatives.

What did Hans Bellmer create and photograph?

Nightmarish constructions from doll parts, splayed in grotesque bodies.

What was Claude Cahun's birth name?

Lucy Schwob.

How did Claude Cahun create commentary on gender ambiguity in their photographs?

Posed in masks or in front of mirrors, the uncanny hiding or doubling of their image.

How did Man Ray use the tenets of Surrealism in his work?

To guide not just his imagery, but his working process.

What did Man Ray experiment with in his photographic process?

Randomness and manipulating images in uncontrollable ways.

What technique did Man Ray use to manipulate his images in uncontrollable ways?

Briefly exposing the film to light before developing it (solarization).

What effect did solarization have on the final image?

Unpredictable areas of tonal reversal.

What did Man Ray write in his essay "The Age of Light" was necessary to push the arts forward?

"A certain amount of contempt for the materials employed."

What did Man Ray's experiments show a lack of?

Respect for the ways photographers traditionally worked with their materials.

What did Man Ray call his most characteristic experiments with photographic technique?

Rayographs.

How were Rayographs made?

Without a camera or film, by laying objects directly onto light-sensitive paper and exposing them to bright light.

What characteristics did Rayographs have in terms of detail?

No detail.

What appeared in the resulting Rayograph images where solid objects had been placed?

Ghostly white shapes.

How much control did the artist have over the appearance of the final Rayograph image?

Relatively little control.

What factors could make the results of Rayographs unpredictable?

The direction of the light, the relative transparency of the items, or the shadows cast by the objects.

Describe the traditional photographic printing process in terms of negatives and positives.

Image exposed on a negative (tones reversed), then printed on paper as a positive (tones reversed again, restoring natural relations).

How do Rayographs differ tonally from traditional positive prints?

They keep the tonal reversal of a photographic negative (white objects on a black background).

What is a print made by direct contact with a light-sensitive surface called?

A photogram or contact print.

How old is the technique of making photograms?

One of the oldest kinds of photography, practiced as early as the 1830s.

Why had most photographers long ago stopped using photograms in favor of other processes?

Because of their lack of detail and texture.

Was Man Ray the only photographer using forms of contact printing in this period?

No.

From where did Man Ray get the idea for his Rayographs?

The "schadographs" made by Christian Schad.

What nationality was Christian Schad?

German.

Starting in what year did Christian Schad make schadographs?

1918.

Name two other avant-garde artists making photograms in the early 1920s.

El Lissitzy and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.

What nationality was El Lissitzy?

Russian.

What nationality was Laszlo Moholy-Nagy?

Hungarian.

With which Surrealist poet did Man Ray work in 1922?

Tristan Tzara.

How did Tristan Tzara describe Man Ray's photograms?

In suitably Surrealistic terms, using vivid and evocative imagery.

What year was the Rayograph shown in the provided material created?

1922.

What does Ray create through the choosing and arrangement of objects in this Rayograph?

A bold interplay between angular and rounded shapes.

Name a recognizable object in the Rayograph.

The coiled form that looks like a stretched-out spring or the small collection of thumbtacks at the upper left.

What purpose do some of the objects in the Rayograph serve beyond being recognizable?

Their ability to create interesting geometric juxtapositions.

What do the nested round and oval objects at the center of the Rayograph echo?

The ripples in a pond.

What creates a syncopated rhythm in the central nested shapes?

Their differences in thickness and texture.

What is the only straight-edged form in the Rayograph composition?

A v-shaped wedge near the bottom.

What might the v-shaped wedge appear to be made from?

A door hinge or hardware fitting.

What does the v-shaped wedge provide a counterpoint to?

The rounded forms in the rest of the composition.

What does the v-shaped wedge almost appear like?

A dart or arrowhead getting ready to hit a target.

Is there a specific meaning given to the different shapes in Ray's Rayograph work?

No.

What is the process of playing with arrangements of objects or angles of lighting in Ray's work considered?

A Surrealistic exploration of form and material.