Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)
Rayograph

Artist Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)(American, 1890–1976)American, 1890–1976

CultureAmerican

Titles

Rayograph

Date1923

MediumGelatin silver print, photogram

DimensionsImage: 9 7/16 × 7 1/16 in. (24 × 18 cm)
Sheet: 9 7/16 × 7 1/16 in. (24 × 18 cm)
Mount: 13 7/8 × 10 9/16 in. (35.2 × 26.8 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment Fund and Max and Isabell Smith Herzstein

Object number86.502

Current Location

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

Gallery 208

On view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionMan Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, and Christian Schad are recognized as early and influential exponents of photograms as a means of extended expression among the 20th-century avant-garde. As would be expected from his affiliation with the Dada and Surrealist movements, Man Ray’s personal variant of the photogram, which he called the “rayograph,” was less restrained, more suggestive, and enigmatic in the seemingly arbitrary way in which he selected and organized objects.
ProvenanceThe artist; acquired by private collector, Paris, 1920s; purchased by Frank Kolodny, late 1970s; [Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, 1985]; John Waddell; [Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, 1986]; purchased by MFAH, 1986.
Exhibition History"American Photography: A History in Pictures," San Antonio Museum of Art, April 21–July 31, 1994.

"Photographic Masterworks: Recent Acquisitions from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Glassell School, January 23–March 4, 1990.

"A Love Affair with Pictures: 25 Years of Collecting Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 14–December 30, 2001.

"Man Ray's photography in the surrealist's Paris," Max Ernst Museum Brühl des LVR, Germany, September 15–December 8, 2013.

“Shadows on the Wall: Cameraless Photography from 1851 to Today,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, August 31–November 30, 2014.

"The Marzio Years: Transforming the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1982–2010," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 25, 2020–January 10, 2021.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed in pencil, mount recto, lower right below image: Man Ray -23

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.