First Day of EMAC - Man Ray

We watched a video in class a week about about Emmanuel Radnitzky, or better known as Man Ray, “Prophet of the Avant Garde.” My previous knowledge of Man Ray was not extensive—I knew he was a well known photographer our century. Perhaps a year or two ago, I had the chance to see his piece “Object to Be Destroyed” which is a metronome with an eye, in the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, NJ, which was the start of my interest in him. I was highly interested in photography at the time, and admired that piece along with the rest of his photographic works. I was unaware of his pre-photography work and it was interesting to learn his biography. It is, to me personally, motivating to know that he had no interest in photography early in his career other than to document his own work. To know that he succeeded so well just from pursuing his own documentation which grew into his main medium is inspiring to me, someone who is interested in all mediums but has no set main interest or knowledge of where I will end up.