Salem, Massachusetts.- The Peabody Essex Museum is currently showing “Man Ray | Lee Miller, Partners in Surrealism”, on view at the museum until December 4th. At the center of modern art history is a love story between two artists who could not live with or without each other. “Man Ray | Lee Miller, Partners in Surrealism” features 76 works by two giants of the Surrealism movement and other renowned artists in their circle including Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, and Le Corbusier. From 1929 to 1932, Man Ray and Lee Miller lived together in Paris, first as teacher and student, and later as lovers. Their mercurial relationship resulted in some of the most powerful work of each artist’s career and helped shape the course of modern art. Combining rare vintage photographs, paintings, sculpture and drawings, this exhibition tells the story of the artists’ brief but intense relationship in Paris, their lifelong friendship, and the unique nature of their creative partnership.
It also offers a window into the maelstrom of artistic and social experimentation that animated Paris in the 1930s and gave inspiration to writers, poets, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists of all stripes. Despite the impact their relationship had on both artists, this will be the first exhibition ever organized that features Man Ray and Lee Miller together on equal terms. Lee Miller is regarded here as an artist and potent Surrealist force in her own right rather than a mere foil for Man Ray’s work. Historically, Miller has been described as Ray’s muse, but their love affair was in fact a key source of mutual and sustained inspiration which pushed the art of their time in a new direction.
Man Ray was a leader in two pioneering Modern art movements, Surrealism and Dada, but was never deeply invested in either categorization. Although accomplished as an avant-garde photographer, he defied labels and thought of himself as a painter first, ultimately wed to no single medium. Man Ray’s camerawork marked a turning point in the integration of photography among other visual art forms. An artist with great clarity of intention, Ray combined incongruous objects, asking the viewer to make sense of the result. In tune with Duchamp, Man Ray was also a master of the Readymade, elevating ordinary objects as art. He channeled his agony over Lee Miller’s departure into a life of productive creativity, often lovingly and cleverly referring to her via coded motifs.The Anti-Muse
Lee Miller started her career as a fashion model, the ultimate ‘it-girl’ of 1920s America. With the encouragement of Edward Steichen for whom she was a favorite subject, she moved behind the camera and sought out Man Ray as a teacher. She quickly gained mastery of darkroom and camera techniques to become a photographer with her own vision to impart. So completely did she absorb Man Ray’s instruction that for a time, Miller persuaded Ray to let her take on their photography projects enabling him to devote more time to painting and other media. Their collaboration resulted in technical innovations such as the effect of solarization and the coalescence of the surrealist idiom. Working in tandem and separately, Ray tended more to the studio and she took to the streets. After she and Ray parted, she remained a photographer for two decades, including a seminal period as World War II war correspondent for Condé Nast. A first-hand witness to some of the worst atrocities of her time, she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder that later hampered her productivity. Her works are rarely seen outside the UK. Lee Miller’s photographs as well as the work of many of the other Surrealist artists in this exhibition appear courtesy of the Lee Miller Archives housed at Farley Farm House in Chiddingly, England. Farley Farm House is the family estate of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, and was a regular stop for some of the world’s most important modern artists including those represented in this exhibition.
The roots of the Peabody Essex Museum date to the 1799 founding of the East India Marine Society, an organization of Salem captains and supercargoes who had sailed beyond either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. The society’s charter included a provision for the establishment of a “cabinet of natural and artificial curiosities,” which is what we today would call a museum. Society members brought to Salem a diverse collection of objects from the northwest coast of America, Asia, Africa, Oceania, India and elsewhere. By 1825, the society moved into its own building, East India Marine Hall, which today contains the original display cases and some of the very first objects collected. Salem was also home to the Essex Historical Society (founded in 1821), which celebrated the area’s rich community history, and the Essex County Natural History Society (founded in 1833), which focused on the county’s natural wonders. In 1848, these two organizations merged to form the Essex Institute (the “Essex” in the Peabody Essex Museum’s name). This consolidation brought together extensive and far-ranging collections, including natural specimens, ethnological objects, books and historical memorabilia, all focusing on the area in and around Essex County.In the late 1860s, the Essex Institute refined its mission to the collection and presentation of regional art, history and architecture. In so doing, it transferred its natural history and archaeology collections to the East India Marine Society’s descendent organization, the Peabody Academy of Science (the “Peabody”). In turn, the Peabody, renamed for its great benefactor, the philanthropist George Peabody, transferred its historical collections to the Essex.
In the early 20th century, the Peabody Academy of Science changed its name to the Peabody Museum of Salem and continued to focus on collecting international art and culture. Capitalizing on growing interest in early American architecture and historic preservation, the Essex Institute acquired many important historic houses and was at the forefront of historical interpretation. With their physical proximity, closely connected boards and overlapping collections, the possibility of consolidating the Essex and the Peabody had been discussed over the years. After in-depth studies showed the benefits of such a merger, the consolidation of these two organizations into the new PEM was effected in July 1992. The museum possessed extraordinary collections — more than 840,000 works of art and culture featuring maritime art and history; American art; Asian, Oceanic, and African art; Asian export art; two large libraries with over 400,000 books, manuscripts, and documents; and 22 historic buildings. Today’s collection has grown to include approximately 1 million works and Yin Yu Tang, the only complete Qing Dynasty house outside China.True to the spirit of its past, PEM is dedicated to creating a museum experience that celebrates art and the world in which it was made. By presenting art and culture in new ways, by linking past and present, and by embracing artistic and cultural achievements worldwide, the museum offers unique opportunities to explore a multilayered and interconnected world of creative expression. Visit the museum’s website at … http://www.pem.org