Man Ray: American Artist

Man Ray is the quintessential modernist figure - painter, sculptor, photographer, filmmaker, poet, and philosopher. One of the most fascinating of the Surrealists who transformed the Paris art world during the 1920s, Man Ray was an enigma - a Dadaist who revered the Old Masters, an anarchist pursued by wealthy patrons. Driven to make his mark in as many art forms as possible, he struggled bitterly to win acceptance as a painter even as his skill as a photographer brought him world wide fame. Man Ray came to know personalities such as Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, Max Ernst, and Coco Chanel, and he photographed virtually every important figure in the arts on both sides of the Atlantic.

YA-- Man Ray is an emminent figure in 20th-Century modernism, especially photography and photographic techniques. Baldwin, who had access to the artist's private papers and the cooperation of his family, took five years in putting together this comprehensive biography, which is copiously illustrated with photographs. The scholarly style and length of the book may intimidate some readers, but art and photography students will especially appreciate this insightful biography for research or for perusal.
- Jenni Elliott, Episcopal High School, Bellaire, Tex.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Man Ray was a bundle of enigmasa Dadaist who revered the Old Masters, an anarchist coddled by wealthy patrons, an obsessive documenter of his own works who was relentlessly determined to erase his personal history. Born Emmanuel Radnitsky, son of a Philadelphia garment factory worker and a strict, sharp-tongued housewife, he grew up in Brooklyn, fled to Paris and eluded ties with a family proud of their bohemian son. He became a chess addict and neglected his first wife; he writhed with jealousy when his mistress-model scored success as an artist. Driven to make his mark in as many art forms as possible, the photographer/object-maker/collagist bitterly struggled to win acceptance as a painter. Turning to Hollywood as a filmmaker in the 1940s, he was dismissed by the art world. Man Ray's lighthearted autobiography Self-Portrait (Forecasts, Aug. 12) hides his inner contradictions; Baldwin, biographer of William Carlos Williams, unmasks his quirks in a model biographyjudicious, compulsively readable, rooting its subject in his cultural milieu. The first full-length life of the artist, it is a remarkable feat of sleuthing. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The aim of these two books is the same: the delineation of Man Ray, inventive photographer, painter, sculptor, and film maker who dominated the iconoclastic inner circle of 20th-century art. It is typical of this paradoxical artist that one must look to the biography for historical framework. In the autobiography, wonderfully animated in style and filled with imagination and candor but little chronological documentation, Man Ray presents his image of Man Ray. While this update of a 1963 publication is an atmospheric stream-of-life account and Baldwin's workthe first full-length biographyan anecdotal examination of the artist's restlessness, curiosity, and wittily skewed vision of reality, both portraits convey Man Ray's passion and commitment. They also have in common the cooperation of Juliet Man Ray, who supplied photographs and documents from her own private collection and memories of her husband. Published to coincide with a forthcoming traveling retrospective exhibit, these books provide background for understanding this self-contained artist. Expect more on Man Ray this season; see "State of the Arts" in LJ 's September 15 issue. Ed. Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum Lib., New York
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.