RAY, MAN

RAY, MAN (1890–1976), U.S. photographer and painter. Born in Philadelphia and moving to Paris in 1921, Ray is known as a founder of the dadaist-surrealist movement in painting, and in photography circles he is famous for his abstract prints made in the darkroom without a camera, to which he gave the name of "Rayograph." Ray added beams and moving pencils of light to the original technique of spreading objects on photographic sensitized papers which were exposed and then developed. He also contributed other facets to creative photography, making effective use of solarization by giving a momentary second exposure to his negative before developing it. The prints he produced from film treated this way showed strong secondary black lines along the major contours of the subject. Ray's portfolio of portraits records the celebrities of the 1920s. Ray fled from France in 1940 on the Nazi invasion and went to Hollywood, where he remained for the duration of World War II, after which he returned to Paris. His autobiography, Self Portrait (1963), explains a great deal of his artistry and his personality. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Current Biography Yearbook 1965 (1965), 336–8; J.I.H. Baur (ed.), New Art in America (1957), 88–91. (Peter Pollack)