modern & contemporary art

Untitled, Man Ray

In the early 1900s, Man Ray began experimenting with lensless photographic methods and pioneered the photogram (he called it the “rayograph,” after himself), whereby an object placed directly on unexposed photographic paper creates a photographic image when exposed to light.

In this 1943 example, he uses strong contrasts and abstract patterns of shadowy gray tones to achieve a dramatic three-dimensional effect.

Western American Art