Man Ray: The First Jewish Avant-Garde Artist

Man Ray was an American visual artist, sampling Surrealist and Dada art through his photographs and paintings. He was originally born Emmanuel Radnitzky on August 27, 1890 and lived with his parents, (who were Jewish immigrants) in Pennsylvania. He is most known for his fascinating photograms which he later renamed rayographs (in honor of himself, and most importantly because he redefined photograms in his photography). Even though he was born in America, and most of his fundamental artistic skills were learnt in America, he spent most of his life in France with his many different wives, continuing to make art until he died in November 18, 1976 in Paris. In his afterlife, he would be named ‘The First Jewish Avant-Garde Artist.’ (a&e television networks)

After high school, he received a full scholarship to a architect school, but he turned it down to focus on his art. Instead of going to college, Ray spent his learning years attending random classes across Pennsylvania, soaking up all that he could about art. However, Man Ray felt as though ‘normal’ art wasn’t what he wanted to create, so he became interested in a new form of art, Dada; which means ‘Anti-art’. For Ray, it was a phenomenon, and after he felt he had all of the information that Pennsylvania had for him, he moved to New York.