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Exhibitions » Exhibitions » Man Ray: The Paris Years

r



AT THE MUSEUM


MAN RAY: THE PARIS YEARS

October 30, 2021 – February 21, 2022

Altria Group Gallery, Center Gallery, NewMarket Gallery
Get Tickets
 * 
 * 
 * 

 * About This Exhibition

Man Ray: The Paris Years focuses on the innovative portrait photographs that the
American artist Man Ray made in the French capital between 1921 and 1940. In the
early decades of the 20th century, Paris became famous the world over as a
powerful center of artistic freedom and daring experimentation, which accounts
for the extraordinary migration there of a large number of artists, architects,
composers, dancers, fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians, and writers.
Shortly after his arrival in July 1921, Man Ray embarked on a sustained campaign
to document the international avant-garde in Paris between the two world wars in
a series of remarkable portraits that established his reputation as one of the
leading photographers of his era.

Organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and curated by Michael Taylor,
VMFA’s Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Art and Education, Man Ray: The
Paris Years is timed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Man Ray’s arrival in
the French capital. The exhibition includes more than 100 portraits of such
cultural luminaries as Kay Boyle, André Breton, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp,
Ernest Hemingway, Miriam Hopkins, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, Méret Oppenheim,
Pablo Picasso, Alice Prin (Kiki de Montparnasse), Elsa Schiaparelli, Erik Satie,
and Gertrude Stein. Man Ray’s portraits went beyond merely recording outward
appearances and instead captured the essence of his sitters as creative
individuals and documented the collective nature and character of Les Années
folles (the crazy years) of Paris between the two world wars.



Man Ray, who was raised in Brooklyn by Jewish immigrant parents and named
Emmanuel Radnitzky at birth, used photography to challenge artistic traditions
and break boundaries, including fixed gender roles. The groundbreaking portraits
that the artist made in Paris reflect the rampant individualism of the
post–World War I era, in which Man Ray and his sitters used self-invention as an
escape from the restrictive conformity of the age.

The artist’s portraits capture an important constituency of the avant-garde at
this time, namely the femme moderne (modern woman). Adventurous, ambitious,
assertive, daring, enterprising, self-reliant, and self-assured modern women
like Berenice Abbott, Nancy Cunard, Valentine Hugo, Lee Miller, and Janet
Scudder took full advantage of their unprecedented freedom and access to
educational and professional opportunities to participate as equals to their
male counterparts in the Parisian avant-garde. Although these women came from
vastly different classes and economic backgrounds, they shared a collective goal
to be creatively, financially, and intellectually independent. Rejecting
traditional gender roles and expectations, modern women were also interested in
erasing sexual difference and often embraced the symbolic trappings and autonomy
of their male counterparts, including wearing men’s clothes, driving fast cars,
smoking, and sporting tightly cropped “bobbed” haircuts.

In addition, this exhibition tells the important stories of Black subjects such
as Henry Crowder, Adrienne Fidelin, Elsie Houston, and Ruby Richards, who have
been unfairly relegated to the margins of modernism due to the legacy of
colonialism and racism. The artist’s series of portraits of the dancer and
singer Ruby Richards, who was born in St. Kitts in the British West Indies and
grew up in Harlem, New York, brings to light an important performer of color
whose work with Man Ray has never before been acknowledged in previous accounts
of the artist’s work. Richards moved to Paris in 1938 to replace the legendary
African American performer Josephine Baker as the star attraction at the Folies
Bergère, and the famous cabaret music hall commissioned Man Ray to help
introduce her to French audiences through his portrait photographs. The
exhibition illuminates the stories of Richards and others whose lives and
portraits broke color barriers.

Man Ray’s portraits often reflect a dialogue or negotiation between the artist’s
vision and the self-fashioning of his subjects. Whether they had their portrait
taken to promote their work, affirm their self-image, project their desires,
fulfill their dreams, or create a new identity, Man Ray’s sitters were not
inanimate objects, like blocks of marble, to be shaped and coerced, but were
instead highly creative cultural and thought leaders who were active
participants in the creative act. Man Ray: The Paris Years empowers the subjects
portrayed in these photographs by telling their stories and giving them an
agency and voice that is not typically heard in monographic accounts of modern
artists. Informed by extensive archival research, this exhibition project and
accompanying catalogue thus offers a more complete account of Man Ray’s Paris
years by focusing not just on his achievement as a photographer and his superb
gifts as a portraitist but also on the friendships and exchange of ideas that
took place between the artist and his subjects in Paris between 1921 and 1940.

Man Ray: The Paris Years will be presented in English and Spanish. VMFA is
committed to representing the cultural and linguistic diversity of our community
and to creating a more accessible, inclusive, and welcoming experience for all.

ABOVE IMAGE Self-Portrait with Camera, 1930, Man Ray (American, 1890–1976),
solarized gelatin silver print. The Jewish Museum, New York, Purchase:
Photography Acquisitions Committee Fund, Horace W. Goldsmith Fund, and Judith
and Jack Stern Gift, 2004-16. © Man Ray 2015 Trust / Artists Rights Society
(ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris 2021.

Exhibition Sponsors

Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Exhibition Endowment
Julia Louise Reynolds Fund

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. and Mrs. R. Augustus Edwards III
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Garner, Jr.
Dr. and Mrs. William V. Garner
Elisabeth Shelton Gottwald Fund
The Francena T. Harrison Foundation
Nancy and Peter Huber
Don and Mary Shockey
YouDecide

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Birch Douglass
Christopher English and Meda Lane
Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc.
Dr. John B. Herrington III and Mr. Keith Toth
Locks Foundation
Margaret and Thomas Mackell
The Anne Carter and Walter R. Robins, Jr. Foundation
Michael Schewel and Priscilla Burbank
Tom Williamson and Janet Brown

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VMFA is also grateful to the following Sponsors:

Ann and Jim Belk | Page and Sandy Bond | Ms. Virginia R. Edmunds | Dr. William
J. Frable | Hugh and Nancy Harrison | Mr. Phillip and Dr. Kandace McGuire | John
and Maria Shugars | Mark and Deborah Wlaz | Dr. and Mrs. Harry A. Wellons, Jr. |
Ting Xu and Evergreen Enterprises

This list represents sponsors as of September 16, 2021.

 * Activities + Events


CURATOR'S OPENING TALK


DR. MICHAEL TAYLOR, VMFA’S CHIEF CURATOR AND DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR ART AND
EDUCATION

Fri, Oct 29, 2021 | 6:30–7:30 pm
Leslie Cheek Theater

Learn More

Sponsored by









MEMBER EVENTS


MAN RAY: THE PARIS YEARS – MEMBER PREVIEW

Oct 28 & 29, 2021

Learn More

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MAN RAY: THE PARIS YEARS – MEMBER APPRECIATION NIGHTS

Wednesdays, Nov 3, 2021–Feb 6, 2022 | 5–9 pm

Learn More

Sponsored by









IN-GALLERY POETRY READINGS


THE POETIC WORLD OF MAN RAY

Wednesdays, Nov 3, 2021–Feb 16, 2022 | 1–1:30pm

Learn More








AFTER 5 FRIDAYS PRESENTED BY CHASE


FLAMENCO INSPIRED BY PROU DEL PILAR

Fri, Nov 19, 2021 | 6 pm

Learn More








COMMUNITY CONVERSATION


CREATING IDENTITY: THE LEGACY OF THE MODERN WOMAN

Wed, Dec 8, 2021 | 6:30–7:30 pm

Learn More








MAN RAY AND FRIENDS FILM NIGHT


SIGNIFICANT LOGIC GOES WITHOUT SAYING

Fri, Jan 14, 2022 | 6:30—9 pm
Leslie Cheek Theater

Learn More








BARBETTE'S BRUNCH BALL


Sun, Jan 23, 2022 | 11 am–2 pm



Learn More








TALKS


CONVERSATION AND BOOK SIGNING: MAN RAY: THE ARTIST AND HIS SHADOWS

Fri, Jan 28, 2022 | 6:30–8:30 pm
Conversation: 6:30 pm | Leslie Cheek Theater
Book Signing: 7:30 pm | Conference Center Suites

Learn More

Sponsored by


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INTRODUCING RUBY RICHARDS

Thu, Feb 3, 2022 | 6:30–7:30 pm

Learn More

Sponsored by









ART AFTER HOURS


PARTY IN PARIS

Sat, Feb 12, 2022 | 7:30–11:30 pm

Learn More








SHOP


EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

Available in the VMFA Shop

Learn More








TASTE OF PARIS


TRANSPORT YOURSELF TO PARIS BY VISITING THE EXHIBITION AND ENJOYING SPECIALTY
COCKTAILS AND CREATIVE FARE AT THE FOLLOWING RESTAURANTS.

Learn More








PHOTO CHALLENGE


JOIN OUR MONTHLY CHALLENGES IN CELEBRATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY.

Learn More








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