The Jewish Museum Announces Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention

Man Ray - "The Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows", 1916, oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Art, New York Gift of G. David Thompson 1954. © 2009 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

NEW YORK, NY.- A trailblazing figure in 20th-century
art, Man Ray (1890-1976) revealed multiple artistic identities over the
course of his career – Dadaist, Parisian Surrealist, international
portrait and fashion photographer
– and produced many important
and enduring works as a photographer, painter, filmmaker, writer,
sculptor, and object maker. Relatively few people know that he was
born Emmanuel Radnitzky to Russian Jewish immigrants.
In
fact, he spent a lifetime suppressing his background to the point of
denying he was ever called anything but Man Ray.

Back To Top