Man Ray: When Objects Dream [Hardcover]

The first in-depth study of Man Ray’s groundbreaking rayographs of the 1920s and their interconnections with his Dada and Surrealist works
 
This is the first in-depth study of the rayograph (or camera-less photograph) pioneered by Man Ray (1890–1976) in 1920s Paris, between the Dada and Surrealist movements. The transformative, magical qualities of these experiments led the poet Tristan Tzara to describe them as capturing moments “when objects dream.” Oscillating between representation and abstraction, the rayograph was ambiguous in its making and subject matter, encapsulating avant-garde concerns of the day. This book highlights connections and shared motifs between the rayographs and Man Ray’s paintings, photographs, drawings, objects, and films. Stephanie D’Alessandro and Stephen C. Pinson analyze the artist’s innovative methods while also exploring key themes across a broad range of his art production, such as chance, indeterminacy, transformation, and preoccupation with dualities.
 
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
 
Exhibition Schedule:
 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(September 14, 2025–February 1, 2026)[An] in-depth study. . . . The book reveals how chance, experimentation, and ambiguity were not peripheral but central to [Man Rays] thinking.Megan Fox Kelly,Observer

“The book’s essays are in-depth and meticulously researched, uncovering stories behind the artist’s most recognised, but little studied, pieces.”—Eleanor Sutherland,Aesthetica

Longlisted inPublishers Weekly’s Fall 2025 Preview

Stephanie D’Alessandrois the Leonard A. Lauder Curator of Modern Art and Senior Research Coordinator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, andStephen C. Pinson