man ray appreciation

pdeeh

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Messages
4,765
Location
UK
Format
Multi Format
A book of his articles and correspondence was published last year "man ray: writings on art".

It's not inexpensive but it's a marvellous read.

If he was an apug member, however, i imagine quite a lot of his posts and threads would have excited some ... Um ... Contention, shall we say?
 

Skiver101

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2017
Messages
122
Location
Scotland
Format
4x5 Format
He was definitely ahead of his time, and operating in a different dimension to his contempories.
I first looked into his work after I discovered that he was one of the few that appreciated, and helped to identify and bring to notice the work of Eugene Atget.

JP
 

Skiver101

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2017
Messages
122
Location
Scotland
Format
4x5 Format
jnanian said:
hi jp

berenice abbott was atget's assistant, she was very involved as well
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/11/a...tographs-captured-new-york-in-transition.html
Click to expand...

Sorry jnanian, but that link seems to be broken.

I did say that Man Ray '' was one of the few ''...I am aware of the role Bernice Abbott played in gathering some of Atget's works and taking them to America when she left Paris. And of her projects to try to convey her own views of New York through an 'Atget prism'.
I was under the impression that Bernice Abbott was 'Man Ray's' assistant, - maybe I would have found out different if the link was not broken.

JP
 

pdeeh

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Messages
4,765
Location
UK
Format
Multi Format
Link works fine for me, also in UK. (for the time being)*

I think John was typing quicker than he was thinking


Berenice abbot was indeed man ray's assistant for a while, in fact I think they played hide-the-sausage together for a bit; but she did get to know atget quite well.

Atget always worked alone so far as I have read, never had an assistant.



* little brexit/indyref2 joke there ...
 

Bob Carnie

Subscriber
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Messages
7,735
Location
toronto
Format
Med. Format RF
Lee Miller was Man Rays assistant when they discovered solarizations - yes no?
 

Skiver101

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2017
Messages
122
Location
Scotland
Format
4x5 Format
''I think they played hide-the-sausage together for a bit''
''but she did get to know atget quite well'' - try-to-find the sausage ?




cheers 4 that pdeeh
 

pdeeh

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Messages
4,765
Location
UK
Format
Multi Format
Bob Carnie said:
Lee Miller was Man Rays assistant when they discovered solarizations - yes no?
Click to expand...

Yes I believe so.
That is how it is told in Penrose's biography of Miller "The Lives Of Lee Miller" - she walked into the darkroom unaware that Man Ray was processing and switched the light on.
Though I think Man Ray tells it differently.

She and Man Ray also played hide-the-sausage, btw
 

pdeeh

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Messages
4,765
Location
UK
Format
Multi Format
pdeeh said:
Though I think Man Ray tells it differently.
Click to expand...
I've just found a passage in the book I mentioned earlier, in a letter from Man Ray to The New Yorker in 1934, where he actually credits Stieglitz with being "the first" to exhibit a photographic print with "solarization" (he says it is "wrongly called solarization" )
 

Bob Carnie

Subscriber
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Messages
7,735
Location
toronto
Format
Med. Format RF
I am ok with the name solarization I know PE will give me crap.
 
OP
OP

removed account4

Subscriber
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Messages
29,832
Format
Hybrid
i'm ok with it to bob, to be honest i had to look up what the difference was
and why what he ( and you ) do might be called something else. i never
heard the other expression until a few years ago here on apug, so i've always
called it the wrong thing.
 

Bob Carnie

Subscriber
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Messages
7,735
Location
toronto
Format
Med. Format RF
Man Ray is the main influence on all my work.. For years I wondered how he did what he did. As I learned how to print for others I would always experiment with flashing light on paper.. to no real avail.
Problem was I had a Hydroquinone based developer and to make a good developer for Solarization/Sabbattier one needs a simple Metol based developer.
Another fine line of distinction one finds as you go down this wormhole is the maki line... you will notice in Man Ray's work there is a distinct BLACK line. When I started all my work I tried to keep away from
any visuals (portraits or nudes) to keep my work fresh but as well I did all print solarizations/sabattier which creates a white line, took me a few years to realize that I would never get the black line which I really love in his work. Therefore I bit the bullet and started shooting my images and flashing the negatives to the raw light using the same paper developer. Immediately I got the black line, so today I feel comfortable with both methods of creating the effect.

William A Jolly pdf was introduced to me on how to make this all work.. I highly recommend his discussion as he was completely correct in how to mix chemistry for this process.

Ed Buffaloe used this process as well , I think he was mostly working with print solarization and frankly his subject matter created fantastic maki lines but I always felt the work to be to busy and effect orientated.

Man Ray seemed with the negative solarization which creates a flat negative with black line, able to increase print contrast and print manipulation to make these fantastic shapes and forms that the OP has directed us too.

Man Ray, Brassai, Shelby Lee Adams, Brett Weston , Steichen these are my hero's who seemed to be able to tame a process and create with that process art prints that endure time.
 

PittP

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2007
Messages
127
Location
Nairobi
Format
35mm RF
John, thank you for bringing up Ray Man again: One of my favourites and one of the reasons I dived into the darkroom...
(never brought it even near to that perfection, never mind!)

The "William A Jolly: Solarization demystified" unfortunately seems no longer easily available. It may be bought on http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed068p3 for a "petty" 40 USD - quite an audacity for an article that was made freely available by the author in his lifetime.

While I have a modest copy of this article I (and certainly many others!) would certainly be very happy to have a properly formatted and complete (pictures) quality-pdf of this profound study.
Good light all times!
 

pdeeh

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Messages
4,765
Location
UK
Format
Multi Format
PittP said:
The "William A Jolly: Solatization demystified" unfortunately seems no longer easily available
Click to expand...
hmm well if Bob can't supply a PDF, I have Dr Jolly's web old website saved offline so I could probably make a PDF of his web article.
 
OP
OP

removed account4

Subscriber
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Messages
29,832
Format
Hybrid
hi pittp
pleasure is mine !
he's one of my favorites too
one of my favorite stories from his (auto)biography
is from a gallery opening in NYC. he didn't speak the same language
as the person interested in his work, but they were communicating...
man ray brought him back to his studio and made him a gift "le cadeau"
the iron with nails welded to it ... i think there are 5 that exist and if you ever make it
to boston, the museum of fine arts used to have one of them ( owned? on loan ? ) in a glass cube
right across from japser john's bronzed ballentine ale cans
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…