Rayograph
Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)
American, 1890–1976
1923
Man Ray's Rayograph is a gelatin silver photogram made without a camera, in which the artist arranged strips of film and small objects directly on light-sensitive paper to produce ghostly, abstract impressions.
You encounter a whirl of translucent film strips, loops and bright silhouettes floating against a deep black, their sprocket holes and overlapping frames forming a rhythmic, almost kinetic pattern between shadow and light.
Created in 1923, it embodies the Dada and Surrealist challenge to photographic realism and helped establish camera-less photograms as an influential method for exploring chance, abstraction, and new darkroom possibilities in modern art.
Medium
Gelatin silver print (photogram)
Dimensions
11 9/16 × 9 1/4" (29.4 × 23.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of James Thrall Soby
Accession
116.1941
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
