A precursor, he was one of the first to use photography, not as a simple means of reproduction, but as a true creative medium in its own right, making this technique an art. Some of his photographs have become iconic and essential.
Man Ray arrived from New York to Paris in July 1921. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 18, 1890, of Jewish parents of Russian origin, Emmanuel Radintsky took a pseudonym of two syllables: "Man", man (diminutive of Manny , his childhood nickname) and "Ray", the ray of light.
Painter, designer, assembler of objects, he creates his Aerographies (spray paintings). In New York, he frequented intellectual and artistic circles, discovered the European avant-gardes with his first wife, Adon Lacroix, of Belgian origin, who introduced him to French literature and authors such as Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Apollinaire, Lautréamont (who would later become the favorite author of surrealism).
He became friends with Marcel Duchamp, with whom he collaborated on artistic creations and together with a patron, Katherine S. Dreier, inaugurated the first museum in the USA dedicated to modern art "La Société Anonyme, Inc. " name invented by Man Ray.
Added to their artistic and intellectual complicity is a common passion: chess.
The most emblematic photograph which bears witness to this is that of Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray playing chess on the roofs of the Théâtre des Champs Elysées taken from the film Entr'act by René Clair and Francis Picabia from 1924. Man Ray designed a chess board in 1920 which will be reissued numerous times. This unwavering friendship will last throughout their lives.
In connection with the European Dada movement, they published the single.
issue of "New York Dada", which attracted very little attention. Disappointed and disillusioned, Man Ray concludes that "Dada cannot live in New York." He has only one objective: to join Duchamp who has just returned to Paris...
It is the journey of this unclassifiable artist, inventor and pioneer of genius, lover of Paris that we offer visitors to discover through a wide selection of photographs, drawings, paintings, objects, illustrated books, magazines and screenings of his films, from several private and public collections including the Center Georges Pompidou.