Striking Portraits of Famous Figures from Man Ray’s Hollywood Period

By Alison Nastasi

Jan. 30, 2018

From 1940 to 1951, legendary artist Man Ray left Paris to escape the German occupation and moved to Los Angeles. While there, he abandoned his commercial fashion photography for premiere magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and focused on fine art. The photos he created during this period are part of an exciting exhibit at Gagosian in Beverly Hills, open through February 17. More on the show Man Ray’s LA from the gallery:

This exhibition explores the collection of original silver gelatin photographs from Man Ray’s “Hollywood” period. Throughout his vast body of work, Man Ray alluded to relationships between the real and the fictive, with a deft mastery over the liminal territory between the abstract and the figurative form. However, these black-and-white, high contrast, carefully composed works eschew the abstract qualities of his innovative rayographs. Instead, they are striking portraits that document his life, social circle, and surroundings, as well as the landscapes and streetscapes of his wartime sanctuary city. These images not only find their own niche within Man Ray’s work, but also give context to his life in California: Many of the portraits are of famous figures with whom he spent his California years, including Ruth Ford, Ava Gardner, Jennifer Jones, Tilly Losch, Jean Renoir, and Igor Stravinsky.

The images include a portrait of Man Ray with friend and collaborator Marcel Duchamp, who helped Man Ray form the New York group of Dada artists and whose many alter egos were documented by the kindred artist.

See a preview of Man Ray’s LA in our gallery.

MAN RAY Jennifer Jones, c. 1944 Vintage gelatin silver print 13 3/8 x 10 5/8 inches 34 x 27 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY Noguchi, 1941 Vintage gelatin silver print 6 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches 16.5 x 11.7 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY Paulette Goddard, c. 1944 Vintage gelatin silver print 7 3/4 x 10 inches 19.7 x 25.4 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY Self-Portrait with Half Beard, 1943 Vintage gelatin silver print 7 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches 18.1 x 13 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY Ruth Ford, 1943 Vintage gelatin silver print tipped onto card 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches 24.8 x 19.7 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY Juliet au Chapeau de Soleil, 1943 Vintage gelatin silver print 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches 24.8 x 19.1 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY Igor Stravinsky with Juliet and Selma Browner, 1945 Vintage gelatin silver print 9 15/16 x 7 3/4 inches 25.2 x 19.7 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY James Roosevelt, c. 1945 Vintage gelatin silver print 10 1/8 x 6 3/4 inches 25.7 x 17.1 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY Man Ray with Duchamp, 1948 Vintage gelatin silver print 3 7/8 x 3 1/4 inches 9.8 x 8.3 cm (unframed)

MAN RAY Ava Gardner in costume for Albert Lewin’s ‘Pandora and the Flying Dutchman’, 1950 Vintage gelatin silver print 10 x 8 inches 25.4 x 20.3 cm (unframed)