Man Ray: Trees + Flowers -Insects and Animals. The treasure trove that is this beautiful book comes from the Man Ray Trust, removed from public scrutiny for more than a decade, the little known collection comprising more than 4,000 works by Man Ray.
At the core of Man Ray: Trees + Flowers – Insects Animals is a series of landscape photographs made by Man Ray from the 1920s through the 1950s, many of which bear the distinct influence of Eugène Atget.
With subjects including castles and ruined buildings, street scenes, and the objects from which he drew inspiration for other artworks, the photographs and drawings in this book represent an intermediary step in Man Ray’s creative process.
The title of the series, Trees + Flowers – Insects Animals, was discovered by the editor scrawled across the backside of a photograph, and provides a key to this most unusual collection. These photographs function as a subject index to the themes and motifs that Man Ray employed in his better known works.
Man Ray was born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia, 1890. He spent most of his working life in Paris, and he was a significant contributor to both Dadaism and Surrealism, though his ties to both were informal. Best known as a photographer, Man Ray produced major works in a variety of media and considered himself a painter above all. Man Ray died in 1976.
Man Ray Trees +Flowers – Insects and animals is published by Steidl and is £42.00 in store now.
