Man Ray (1890–1976) was an American photographer, painter, and filmmaker. He was the only American who played a major role in both the Dada and Surrealist movements. Born in Philadelphia as the son of Jewish immigrants, he grew up in New York City and studied art, architecture, and engineering. Around 1911, he adopted the pseudonym Man Ray. He met Marcel Duchamp in 1915, and together they formed the New York group of Dada artists and collaborated on many inventions. Man Ray moved to Paris in 1921 and became associated with the Dada and Surrealist circles. Inspired by these groups, he experimented with various media, including photography, and rediscovered how to make "cameraless" pictures called rayographs.

What types of art did Man Ray create?

Man Ray was an American artist who significantly impacted both the Dada and Surrealist movements. He worked across various media, including painting, filmmaking, and photography. Man Ray's photographic techniques included rayographs (cameraless pictures made by placing objects on light-sensitive paper) and solarization (part-negative, part-positive images achieved by exposing prints to light during development). His ready-mades, such as Gift (a flatiron with tacks), exemplify his Dadaist approach of designating manufactured objects as art. He also produced portraits and fashion photography, experimenting with the genre by manipulating images. His films, like Le Retour à la raison and L’Étoile de mer , are considered Surrealist classics.

What is Man Ray famous for in photography?

Man Ray, an American photographer, painter, and filmmaker, significantly contributed to the Dada and Surrealist movements. He is renowned for his innovative photographic techniques, including rayographs or "cameraless" pictures made by placing objects on light-sensitive paper. Additionally, Man Ray experimented with solarization , a technique that reverses the negative and positive parts of a photo, producing halolike outlines that enhanced the lights and darks. His photography captured celebrities of Parisian cultural life and appeared in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar , Vu , and Vogue .

What were Man Ray's 'Rayographs'?

Man Ray was an American photographer, painter, and filmmaker who participated in both the Dada and Surrealist movements. While in Paris, he experimented with photography and rediscovered how to make "cameraless" pictures, or photograms, which he called rayographs . He made them by placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper, exposing it to light, and then developing it. In 1922, he released a book of collected rayographs, Les Champs délicieux (“The Delightful Fields”), with an introduction by Dada artist Tristan Tzara. Man Ray also experimented with solarization, a technique that renders part of a photographic image negative and part positive, with his lover, photographer and model Lee Miller.

How did Man Ray contribute to the Surrealist and Dada art movements?

Man Ray was a key figure in both the Dada and Surrealist movements, uniquely as an American. In New York, he formed the Dada group with Marcel Duchamp, producing readymades like Gift . Moving to Paris in 1921, he joined Dada and Surrealist circles, experimenting with various media. His photography included "rayographs," cameraless pictures made by placing objects on light-sensitive paper. With Lee Miller, he also experimented with solarization, a technique that reverses the negative and positive parts of a photo. Ray also contributed to fashion and portrait photography, capturing celebrities and experimenting with techniques like multiple exposures and superimpositions. His films, such as L’Étoile de mer , are considered Surrealist classics.

How has Man Ray influenced later artists and photographers?

Man Ray, an American photographer, painter, and filmmaker, significantly impacted both the Dada and Surrealist movements. His innovative photographic techniques, such as rayographs and solarization (developed with Lee Miller ), introduced new artistic possibilities, influencing later photographers. Man Ray's fashion and portrait photography captured celebrities of Parisian cultural life and were featured in magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue . His cameraless pictures, or photograms, involved placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper. His experimental approach and rediscovery of techniques for aesthetic purposes inspired generations of artists and photographers.

Man Ray

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Man Ray was a photographer, painter, and filmmaker who was the only American to play a major role in both the Dada and Surrealist movements.

Cover of Mother Earth magazine, August 1914, features Man Ray's illustration of two beasts labeled Capitalism and Government pulling apart a figure labeled Humanity.

Man Ray sits indoors holding a pair of eyeglasses, looking at the camera, with a potted plant on the windowsill beside him.

Quick Facts

Original name:: Emmanuel Radnitzky

Born:: August 27, 1890, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Died:: November 18, 1976, Paris, France (aged 86)

Founder:: Société Anonyme

Notable Works:: “Anemic Cinema”; “Le Violon d’Ingres”; “Object to be Destroyed”; “Return to Reason”; “The Gift”

Man Ray

American photographer and painter

Also known as: Emanuel Rabinovitch, Emmanuel Radnitzky, Ray, Man(Show More)

Written and fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 3, 2026 •History

Top Questions

Who was Man Ray?
Man Ray (1890–1976) was an American photographer, painter, and filmmaker. He was the only American who played a major role in both the Dada and Surrealist movements.

Born in Philadelphia as the son of Jewish immigrants, he grew up in New York City and studied art, architecture, and engineering. Around 1911, he adopted the pseudonym Man Ray. He met Marcel Duchamp in 1915, and together they formed the New York group of Dada artists and collaborated on many inventions. Man Ray moved to Paris in 1921 and became associated with the Dada and Surrealist circles. Inspired by these groups, he experimented with various media, including photography, and rediscovered how to make "cameraless" pictures called rayographs.
1 Britannica Source
1. Man Ray
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What types of art did Man Ray create?
Man Ray was an American artist who significantly impacted both the Dada and Surrealist movements. He worked across various media, including painting, filmmaking, and photography.

Man Ray's photographic techniques included rayographs (cameraless pictures made by placing objects on light-sensitive paper) and solarization (part-negative, part-positive images achieved by exposing prints to light during development). His ready-mades, such as Gift (a flatiron with tacks), exemplify his Dadaist approach of designating manufactured objects as art. He also produced portraits and fashion photography, experimenting with the genre by manipulating images.

His films, like Le Retour à la raison and L’Étoile de mer, are considered Surrealist classics.
1 Britannica Source
1. Man Ray
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is Man Ray famous for in photography?
Man Ray, an American photographer, painter, and filmmaker, significantly contributed to the Dada and Surrealist movements. He is renowned for his innovative photographic techniques, including rayographs or "cameraless" pictures made by placing objects on light-sensitive paper.

Additionally, Man Ray experimented with solarization, a technique that reverses the negative and positive parts of a photo, producing halolike outlines that enhanced the lights and darks. His photography captured celebrities of Parisian cultural life and appeared in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vu, and Vogue.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What were Man Ray's 'Rayographs'?
Man Ray was an American photographer, painter, and filmmaker who participated in both the Dada and Surrealist movements. While in Paris, he experimented with photography and rediscovered how to make "cameraless" pictures, or photograms, which he called rayographs.

He made them by placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper, exposing it to light, and then developing it. In 1922, he released a book of collected rayographs, Les Champs délicieux (“The Delightful Fields”), with an introduction by Dada artist Tristan Tzara. Man Ray also experimented with solarization, a technique that renders part of a photographic image negative and part positive, with his lover, photographer and model Lee Miller.
1 Britannica Source
1. Man Ray
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How did Man Ray contribute to the Surrealist and Dada art movements?
Man Ray was a key figure in both the Dada and Surrealist movements, uniquely as an American. In New York, he formed the Dada group with Marcel Duchamp, producing readymades like Gift.

Moving to Paris in 1921, he joined Dada and Surrealist circles, experimenting with various media. His photography included "rayographs," cameraless pictures made by placing objects on light-sensitive paper. With Lee Miller, he also experimented with solarization, a technique that reverses the negative and positive parts of a photo.

Ray also contributed to fashion and portrait photography, capturing celebrities and experimenting with techniques like multiple exposures and superimpositions. His films, such as L’Étoile de mer, are considered Surrealist classics.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Man Ray
2. Lee Miller: Solarization and relationship with Man Ray
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How has Man Ray influenced later artists and photographers?
Man Ray, an American photographer, painter, and filmmaker, significantly impacted both the Dada and Surrealist movements. His innovative photographic techniques, such as rayographs and solarization (developed with Lee Miller), introduced new artistic possibilities, influencing later photographers. Man Ray's fashion and portrait photography captured celebrities of Parisian cultural life and were featured in magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. His cameraless pictures, or photograms, involved placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper. His experimental approach and rediscovery of techniques for aesthetic purposes inspired generations of artists and photographers.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Man Ray
2. Lee Miller: Solarization and relationship with Man Ray
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Man Ray (born August 27, 1890, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died November 18, 1976, Paris, France) was a photographer, painter, and filmmaker who was the only American to play a major role in both the Dada and Surrealist movements.

The son of Jewish immigrants, Radnitzky grew up in New York City, where his father worked as a tailor and his mother a seamstress. He studied architecture, engineering, and art, and became a painter. As early as 1911, he took up the pseudonym of Man Ray. As a young man, he was a regular visitor to Alfred Stieglitz’s “291” gallery, where he was exposed to current art trends and earned an early appreciation for photography. In 1915 Man Ray met the French artist Marcel Duchamp, and together they collaborated on many inventions and formed the New York group of Dada artists. Like Duchamp, Man Ray began to produce ready-mades, commercially manufactured objects that he designated as works of art. Among his best-known ready-mades is Gift (1921), a flatiron with a row of tacks glued to the bottom.

In 1921 Man Ray moved to Paris and became associated with the Parisian Dada and Surrealist circles of artists and writers. Inspired by the liberation promoted by these groups, he experimented with many media. His experiments with photography included rediscovering how to make “cameraless” pictures, or photograms, which he called rayographs. He made them by placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper, which he exposed to light and developed. In 1922 a book of his collected rayographs, Les Champs délicieux (“The Delightful Fields”), was published, with an introduction by the influential Dada artist Tristan Tzara, who admired the enigmatic quality of Man Ray’s images. In 1929, with his lover, photographer and model Lee Miller, Man Ray also experimented with the technique called solarization, which renders part of a photographic image negative and part positive by exposing a print or negative to a flash of light during development. He and Miller were among the first artists to use the process, known since the 1840s, for aesthetic purposes.

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"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

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Man Ray also pursued fashion and portrait photography and made a virtually complete photographic record of the celebrities of Parisian cultural life during the 1920s and ’30s. Many of his photographs were published in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vu, and Vogue. He continued his experiments with photography through the genre of portraiture; for example, he gave one sitter three pairs of eyes, and in Le Violon d’Ingres (1924) he photographically superimposed sound holes, or f holes, onto the photograph of the back of a female nude, making the woman’s body resemble that of a violin. He also continued to produce ready-mades. One, a metronome with a photograph of an eye fixed to the pendulum, was called Object to Be Destroyed (1923)—which it was by anti-Dada rioters in 1957.

Man Ray also made films. In one short film, Le Retour à la raison (1923; Return to Reason), he applied the rayograph technique to motion-picture film, making patterns with salt, pepper, tacks, and pins. His other films include Anémic cinéma (1926; in collaboration with Duchamp) and L’Étoile de mer (1928–29; “Star of the Sea”), which is considered a Surrealist classic.

In 1940 Man Ray escaped the German occupation of Paris by moving to Los Angeles. Returning to Paris in 1946, he continued to paint and experiment until his death. His autobiography, Self-Portrait, was published in 1963 (reprinted 1999).

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Man Ray

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