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- Cover of Photographs by Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, 1934. Rosalind and Melvin Jacobs Collection. © 2009 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention
exhibition catalogue by Mason Klein; with contributions by George Baker, Merry L. Foresta, and Lauren Schell Dickens
See also the following exhibition tour (from WNET, Channel 13) by Dr. Klein and this lecture.
In preparing his probing, focused, and entirely convincing examination of Man Ray, Mason Klein can hardly have been under the illusion that the artist—or his Manes—would thank him for resurrecting his persona along with his art. Indeed, the exhibition presents an irresistible case for the originality and, above all, the enduring power of Man Ray’s art to fascinate. However, in order to find his individuality, the curator found it necessary to dissect Man Ray’s life and character, which was as much a construct as any of his collages or Dada objets.
In order to create, Man Ray had to create himself, and at times in his life this self-creation was and end in itself, even his primary expression. His invented self not only gave him a more comfortable face to present to the world, it gave him the freedom to work as an artist, just as he needed Paris as the the stage for his performance as Man Ray. Klein’s examination is anything but non-destructive. Once he has finished lifting the layers off Man Ray’s self-construction, there is nothing left. He made it all himself, asking little or no help from God or his ancestors. While I believe there is credit in respecting an artist’s vision of him or herself—good manners are not at all out of place in art history—I believe Man Ray’s unmasking was absolutely necessary in this case, in order for us to understand his art and to appreciate it with new respect, but without mythologies or adulation.