Rare Contact Prints from Man Ray’s Archive

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A rare collection of darkroom contact prints from Man Ray’s archive will be on display — for the first time ever — in an exhibition slated to run from February 21st through March 28th at Atlas Gallery in London.

Once belonging to Man Ray’s darkroom printer, Pierre Gassman, these prints reveal a subtlety that is often lost or overlooked in the prolific Surrealist’s work. Seen in their earliest, un-manipulated form, these still lifes and early examples of Man Ray’s portraiture evince a casual sensibility — a willingness to engage in trial and error — that feels, somehow, refreshingly at odds with the American-born modernist’s more widely known, finished works.

A central figure in both the Dada and Surrealist movements, Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky in 1890 in Philadelphia) created portraits of his contemporaries — often hugely influential cultural figures — including James Joyce, Picasso, Ava Gardner and Coco Chanel. Some of those portraits will be on display, publicly, for the first time at the Atlas show.


Man Ray: Contacts is on display at Atlas Gallery in London through March 28th.


Study for Cover: Photographs by Man Ray, 1920-1934, 1933 © The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Kike de Montparnasse, c. 1925-1926© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Nude, c. 1930© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Apple and Screw, c. 1930© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Light Switch, c. 1930© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Andre Breton, c. 1930© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Beautiful as the accidental encounter, on a dissecting table, of a sewing machine and an umbrella, 1935© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Coco Chanel, 1935© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Untitled, Undated Contact Print© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Nude, Undated Contact Print© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Juliet, c. 1946© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London
Man Ray and Ava Gardner, 1950© The Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London

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