A major figure in MODERNISM, Man Ray was an artist who was born in 1890 in Philadelphia but spent most of his life in Paris, dying there in 1976.
He had his own style but contributed to the Surrealist and Dada movements in art, was an important figure in Paris art scene of the 1920's and 30's.but was most known for his photography.
He was born with the name of Emmanuel Radensky in Philadelphia and was raised in New York City.  He worked for an engraving firm and studied art briefly at the Ferrer School,  founded in Manhattan in 1911 with a free-school curriculum, which was non-hierarchical and emphasized self reliance, personal development, socialism, free-thinking and non-conformity.  In 1911, he began doing collage, which was some of the first non-objective art work in this country.  He also explored Cubism, being influenced by Max Weber who had been to Paris and by exposure to talk at Alfred Stieglitz' Gallery 291. Stieglitz introduced him to photography, and he became a widely sought after fashion photographer, earning his living in this way.
In 1915, he came under the influence of Marcel Duchamp and turned to Dadaist methods including a collage self-portrait with electric bells and a push button.  He derived his forms from his own ideas, not from nature.  In 1919, he began using the airbrush and then created hanging sculpture out of lamp shades.
He was a founder of the Societe Anonyme in 1920, which was the first American organization to promote modern art.  The next year, he went to Paris and stayed for 20 years, and then lived in California until 1951. After that he returned to Paris, which he considered to be his true home.  There he participated in Surrealist* and Dada exhibitions and was involved in the making of four Surrealist films.
Courtesy Bill Robinson - 20th Century Collection