Man Ray

Man Ray (1890-1976) was an American artist and photographer, one of the greatest exponents of Dadaism. A multifaceted and difficult to classify figure, after his youth in Philadelphia he moved to Paris in 1921, following his great friend Marcel Duchamp, and there he lived fully in the fervid undergrowth of the avant-gardes where he developed innovative photographic techniques such as rayography, which consisted of exhibit the objects directly in contact with the photosensitive material, as well as giving life to iconic and enigmatic works such as "The violin of Ingres" and "Tears of glass". He later joined Surrealism, also making experimental short films and art objects. Some of the movement's best-known models such as Kiki de Montparnasse, his longtime lover, and Meret Oppenheim posed for him. A few years before his death he met Dino Gavina, who made him one of the protagonists of the famous Ultramobile collection created for the Simon brand (now merged into the Cassina catalog).