Man Ray’s Avant-Garde Portraits of Famous Friends

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Man Ray’s most prolific years were during his time in Paris in the 1920s. The artist left New York for France’s bohemian metropolis where the former painter and Dadaist was embraced by the Surrealist community, and his photography career started to take shape. Most of Man Ray’s models were the hipster elite of his social circle — famous friends with impressive careers of their own, many burgeoning legends in the art and literary worlds. He took snaps of everyone from a baby-faced Salvador Dalí, Hemingway, New York collaborator Marcel Duchamp, and model-cum-muse and photographer Lee Miller. The portraits are modern (several look like they were taken just yesterday), bold, humorous, and quintessentially Man Ray. Check out our gallery past the break for a closer look.

Image credit: Man Ray [Spotted via MondoBlogo]

Lee Miller, Paris, 1929

Image credit: Man Ray

Ernest Hemingway, Paris, 1923

Image credit: Man Ray

André Breton, Paris, 1928

Image credit: Man Ray

Marcel Duchamp, Paris, 1921

Image credit: Man Ray

Jacqueline Goddard, Paris, 1930

Image credit: Man Ray

Salvador Dalí, Paris, 1929

Image credit: Man Ray

Joan Miró, Paris, 1928

Image credit: Man Ray

Bronislava Nijinska, Paris, 1922

Image credit: Man Ray

Antonin Artaud, Paris, 1926

Image credit: Man Ray

Nancy Cunard, Paris, circa 1925

Image credit: Man Ray

Ezra Pound, Paris, 1923

Image credit: Man Ray

Denise Tual, Paris, 1935