Perpetual Motif: Art of Man Ray

Amid the exuberant chaos of the Paris art scene between the world wars, among the jarring factions of Dadaists, Surrealists, Futurists, and miscellaneous others, Philadelphia-born Man Ray was universally admired yet - it seemed - stubbornly mysterious. Although he looms large in today’s standard art histories as a figure of unmistakable importance, few people have seen more than a selection of his remarkable photographs or a handful of his enigmatic objects . Indeed, surprisingly little is known about this extraordinary and innovative creator of paintings, collages, drawings, films, aesthetic theory, and autobiography - as well as photographs and objects. When it was first published, Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray was acclaimed as the first major book on this mysterious and eclectic artist and his work (The Bloomsbury Review). It not only examines all aspects of the artist’s production in all its forms, but also discusses Man Ray’s multifarious connections with the artistic and political radicals of pre-World War I New York, the underground avant-garde as well as the haute monde of Paris between the wars, and the emigre society of Hollywood after World War 11. Illustrated with nearly 300 of the artist’s works in full colour and duotone (many published for the first time) Perpetual Motif brings together a host of authors who have distinguished themselves as specialists in the many fields of Man Ray’s endeavours. Each has contributed an enlightening essay on one of the many facets in the career of this multifaceted artist.