From the page: “Man Ray (August 27, 1890to November 18, 1976) was an American Dada and Surrealist artist.
Born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Man Ray showed evidence of being artistically and mechanically inclined from childhood. After graduating from Boys’ High School in 1908, he was offered a scholarship to study architecture but chose to pursue a career as an artist instead.
In 1915, he had his first one-man show of paintings and drawings. His first proto-Dada object, an assemblage titled “Self-Portrait”, was exhibited the following year. He produced his first significant photographs in 1918.
While living in New York City, with his friend Marcel Duchamp, he formed the American branch of the Dada movement, which began in Europe as a radical rejection of traditional art. He co-founded the group of modern artists called Others.
After a few unsuccessful experiments, and notably after the publication of a unique issue of New York Dada in 1920, Man Ray stated, “Dada cannot live in New York”, and in 1921 he went to live and work in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, France during the era of great creativity. There he fell in love with famous French singer, Kiki (Alice Prin), often referred to as “Kiki de Montparnasse”, who later became his favorite photographic model.”
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