Experimenting in his darkroom he placed objects on light-sensitive paper to create his signature artform—the “rayograph”—which Jean Cocteau aptly described as “paintings with light.”2 Working with muse and protégé Lee Miller, Man Ray used the process of solarization to create stunning portraits, nudes and still-lifes in which subjects circumscribed by shadowy lines appear to radiate a heavenly light.

In addition to his studio practice, Man Ray worked on and off as a fashion photographer for magazines including Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. Even while making photographs within a commercial context, Man Ray introduced elements of his avant-garde style including double exposures, multiple shadows, severed limbs, masks, and veils. Some of the artist’s most iconic images—like the portrait of Kiki de Montparnasse next to a wooden African mask (Noir et blanc, 1926)—were first published in fashion magazines.

Over the course of more than half a century, Man Ray produced a materially and conceptually varied body of work that remains influential to this day.