
1988.17
Artist
Man RayTitle
UntitledCreation Date
1921Medium & Support
gelatin silver printDimensions
8 3/4 in. x 6 7/8 in. (22.3 cm. x 17.4 cm.)Credit Line
Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter FundAccession Number
1988.17Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.Please suggest keywords to describe this object. Separate multiple keywords by commas. Example: road,angel,technology,toy
Photograms are camera-less images produced by placing objects onto photographic paper. Depending on the exposure time, the transparency of the object used, and the distances between object, paper, and light, the process may produce clearly defined silhouettes or nearly unrecognizable blurs. While the process had existed since photographic paper was invented, Man Ray claimed to have discovered the technique, which he described as “startlingly new and mysterious,” by accident and called his own versions “rayographs.” Developed alongside other “Dada” artistic strategies, which often courted chance and always defined conventional techniques, Man Ray’s use of ubiquitous objects, such as what appears here to be an electrical mixer, also references his friend Marcel Duchamp’s invention of the readymade.
Portfolios: OLD_FEATC|ENGL2451_181102| Reizbaum|Modernism and Surrealism in Photography FEAT|Modern Art