Untitled [Rayograph] (Primary Title)
Man Ray, American, 1890 - 1976 (Artist)
In 1922 Man Ray published an album of twelve Rayographs called Les Champs Délicieux (The Delightful Fields), with an essay by the Romanian-born poet Tristan Tzara. As he perfected the technique over the next decade, Man Ray learned to move the objects along the surface or suddenly remove them in order to give depth and a sense of motion to the items and their shadowy imprints. By 1927, when he created Untitled (Rayograph) using honeycomb-shaped pieces of cardboard packaging, the artist had mastered the intensity, direction, and duration of the light to create monumental abstract compositions in contrast to the earlier, more whimsical examples.
Signed and dated by the photographer in graphite in lower right corner of image.
Stamp in black ink on mount verso: "Original".
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
Man Ray: The Paris Years, VMFA, October 30, 2021 – February 21, 2022
"Masterpieces of Photography from the Permanent Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: The First Hundred Years, 1839-1939", VMFA, November 6, 2020 - May 23, 2021
"Masterpieces of Photography from the Permanent Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: The First Hundred Years, 1839-1939", VMFA, November 6, 2020 - May 23, 2021
Manford, Steven. "Behind the Photo: The Stamps of Man Ray", (Paris: Carnet de Rhinocéros Jr., 2006).
©artist or artist’s estate
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