Man Ray.

Sewn as issued, pictorial wrappers. Very fine. London, Thames & Hudson, 1975. 8vo. 208 pp. With 154 illustrations, 20 in colour. With index. (Publisher:) "Since about 1911, Man Ray has stood at the centre of European and American modernism, as a painter, conjurer of magical and poetic objects, inventor and photographer. Few contemporary artists have played such a vital role in the creation of imaginative visual realities. Although Man Ray was born in America, he has lived most of his adult life in France, except for the war years. He was a central figure in the Surrealist and Dadaist movements and a close friend and collaborator of Duchamp, Picabia, Ernst, Breton and Eluard. As a result, he is generally thought of as a European artist, although he is the precursor of many important developments in contemporary American art. Man Ray has been a pioneering artist in many and diverse ways: in integrating photography and painting; in his creation of surrealist objects which are puzzling and mysterious, humorous and unpretentious; and in manipulating scale. The influence of Man Ray increases as his work becomes more widely appreciated. Its most important aspects go beyond painting, objects and photography: its virtue lies not only in the many techniques he has mastered but also in the subtle and disturbing probes he makes into the very nature of life and the directness with which his inventions surprise us. His genius resides in the poetry he instils into all the domains of artistic activity he has pursued, and also in inspiring a sense of enjoyment of the enigmatic pleasures of life. Roland Penrose has been a close friend of Man Ray for almost fifty years. In this book, the first major monograph of Man Ray since 1924, he creates an absorbing narrative about the life of his friend, his work and his role at the very centre of the most crucial period of contemporary art. As the organizer of the International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936, where Man Ray's work was shown for the first time in England, and as a Surrealist painter himself, Sir Roland Penrose provides unique insights into the exciting work and life of a modern genius".…