Man Ray arranged a carpenter’s rule and a glass negative with an image of La Grande Roue (France’s first Ferris wheel) to make this combination of a photogram and contact print. “Rayographs,” as the artist called his photograms, are cameraless images made by light that is blocked by or passed through objects placed on photographic paper. For Man Ray, the surface of the photographic paper became a sketch pad where unrelated objects, drawn by light, merged to create abstract compositions evocative of dreams and imaginary scenes. The artist exhibited his experimental photograms alongside paintings and sculptural objects within months of his move to Paris from New York. Through such exhibitions, he advanced an artistic identity that included photography among a variety of media experiments.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Travis, David. 1976. “Photographs from the Julien Levy Collection: Starting with Atget.” Exh. cat. p. 65, cat. 114.
Krauss, Rosalind and Jane Livingston. 1985. “L’Amour Fou - Photography and Surrealism.” Cross River Press, Ltd. p. 230, fig. 225.
Hight, Eleanor M. 1985. “Moholy-Nagy: Photography and Film in Weimar Germany.” Wellseley College Museum. Exh. cat. p. 134, fig. 109.
Wolf, Sylvia. 1993. “Industrial Effects: Twentieth Century Photographs from the Permanent Collection.” Exh. cat. The Art Institute of Chicago. n.pag.
Travis, David. 2005. “Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was.” Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press. p. 44.
Molderings, Herbert. 2008. “Die Geburt der moderne Fotografie.” Philo Fine Arts. p. 239.
Matthew S. Witkovsky et al., “The Art Institute of Chicago Field Guide to Photography and Media,” eds. Antawan I. Byrd, Elizabeth Siegel, and Carl Fuldner, pl. 280, p. 294 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2023).
Art Institute of Chicago, “Photographs from the Julien Levy Collection: Starting with Atget,” December 11, 1976–February 20, 1977; traveled to the International Center of Photography, New York, April 21-May 29, 1977; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, November 4-December 18 1977; Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 13-Ferbruary 26, 1978; Lakeview Center for the Arts and Sciences, Peoria, Illinois, March 16-April 30, 1978; and Cincinnati Art Museum, November 17-December 24, 1978. (David Travis)
Wellesley, Massachusetts, Wellesley College Museum, “Moholy-Nagy, Photography and Film in Weimar Germany,” April 10–June 10, 1985.
Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery, “L’Amour Fou: Photography and Surrealism,” September 14, 1985–November 17, 1985; traveled to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, December 13, 1985–February, 1986; Paris, France, Centre Georges Pompidou, April 15–June 16, 1985; London, England, Hayward Gallery, July 10–October 3, 1986.
Zurich, Switzerland, Kunsthaus Zurich, “Photogramm,” March 31–May 27, 1990.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Industrial Effects: Twentieth Century Photographs from the Permanent Collection,” July 24-October 17, 1993.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Crossing the Line: Photography Reconsidered,” January 29–June 4, 2000. (David Travis)
Art Institute of Chicago, “Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was,” August 13–November 6, 2005. (David Travis)
Art Institute of Chicago, “Photography on Display: Modern Treasures,” May 9–September 13, 2009.
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