The television is arguably one of the most significant objects of the modern age. Along with the invention of the radio, the television set up the very framework for how information would be delivered for decades. For the scale and significance of the television, its history is shockingly short and innovation happened at lightning speed…
Man Ray’s work goes beyond painting and photography. Throughout the 1920s, Man Ray, along with Duchamp, produced a number of short films using completely new ideas of motion graphics. His 1926 film Emak-Bakia (Leave me Alone) is honestly downright weird on first viewing but when looking at the film from a purely technological standpoint it…
During the 1920s, Man Ray explored how photography could be manipulated after the image was taken. He presented Noire et Blanche (1926) with both the positive and negative photograph beside each other. A very strong political and racial narrative underlies this set of photographs and during the roaring 20s, if anyone had actually taken the…
One of the icons of the surrealist movement not coincidentally plays with Man Ray’s fashionable upbringing. Cadeau, from 1921, is nothing more than an iron with nails woefully glued onto it. Though the work was stolen from the exhibition he had made it for just hours after opening (Mundy), Cadeau embodies irrationality, Man Ray’s work,…
Born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia in 1890, Man Ray was arguably one of the most important artistic figures of the Dada and Surrealist movements. His contribution to art spanned for more than 6 decades with his most influential period occurring between 1920 and 1950. Firstly it must be noted why he goes by Man Ray.…