For the 78th album in its "100 photos for press freedom" collection, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) honors Man Ray, one of the greatest protean and innovative artists of the 20th century.
"I simply try to be as free as possible. Nobody can dictate or guide me in the way I work or in my choice of subjects. People can criticize me afterwards, but that's too late. The work is done. I have experienced freedom. It was with these words that Man Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitsky (1890-1976), probably best summed up his life, his career and his work, and who better than the International Organization for the Defense of Freedom of the Press to dedicate an edition to the man who reshaped the boundaries of creation and imagination? Let's make way for one of the leading figures of Surrealism and Dadaism. Just after the album on Martine Franck, with the support of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, Reporters sans frontières continues to enrich its collection. The NGO offers an insight into the photographic work and technical experiments of this great name of the modern avant-garde.
Roaring Twenties
A fascinating journey from New York to Hollywood and, of course, to Paris, this 140-page book presents the work of this American exile, born in Philadelphia to a Jewish family of Russian emigrants. Texts by José-Louis Bocquet (author and screenwriter), Emmanuelle de l'Ecotais (curator), Robert McAlmon (publisher), Maud Simonnot (writer and editor) and Whitney Scharer (essayist and novelist) bring the atmosphere of the period to life. The album immerses us in his images from 1915, his technical essays, his fashion photographs and portraits of his artist friends. It all begins with his friendship with Marcel Duchamp, whom he met in New York and who convinced him to settle in the Paris of poets, surrealists and the Roaring Twenties, for which he would become famous. An extract from Man Ray's autobiography, reproduced in the foreword, immediately sets the mood, as he recalls his friends Louis Aragon, Paul Éluard and Salvador Dalí.
Innovations and timeless icons
From rayography (underlining contours in the form of a halo) to solarization (inverting tones), Man Ray never stopped experimenting, often inspired, influenced and guided by his companions and models. With Kiki de Montparnasse, he created two of his photographic masterpieces(Le Violon d'Ingres, 1924; Noire et Blanche, 1926). With Lee Miller, who became a major war photographer after breaking with him, the relationship became more passionate and creative. It was she who discovered the principle of solarization and enabled him to develop it. Portraits, faces, bodies, eyes, objects... This boundless craftsman redefined photographic art with his play on form and light, while exploring painting, cinema and sculpture throughout his career. Although he was forced to flee France and return to the United States during the Second World War, before settling back in Paris until his death, his work continues to mark the history of art and photography, spanning the ages with inventiveness, audacity and that spirit of freedom.
Man Ray
Éditions RSF - "100 photos for press freedom" collection
Release date: March 6, 2025
