S. M. Eisenstein
Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)
American, 1890–1976
1929
A 1929 gelatin silver print portrait by Man Ray that aims to present the sitter named in the title as a concentrated, modern intellectual.
Up close, the photograph arrests you with the sitter’s intense, slightly defiant gaze, dramatic studio lighting that sculpts his face, and the telephone prop that anchors the image in modern, professional life.
The work links Surrealist portraiture and cinema-era publicity, showing how Man Ray helped shape public artistic identities and broadened photography’s role as a tool for constructing modern personae.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
9 3/4 × 8 7/8" (24.8 × 22.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of James Thrall Soby
Accession
98.1941
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
