Rare Contact Prints from Man Ray’s Archive

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.