Man Ray on : 'The Body'

Man Ray was one of the first photographers that I learnt about around 4 years ago in college.  He is an American artist but spent most of his career in Paris.  He was described as a modernist and played a big part in the Surrealist movement.  In my previous post I mentioned how Bill Brandt was an assistant to Man Ray, so therefore his work could come from and have significance to Ray's work.  Man Ray is best know in the art world for his avant-garde photography.  He produced work in a range of medias but considered himself a painter, he was also a renowned fashion and portrait photographer.  He is noted for his photograms, which he renamed 'rayographs' after himself. 

This large image is one of Man Ray's most popular images for nude photography and almost every photographer has seen it before.  It's one of those images that you just always remember.  I think it looks very elegant and holds a peaceful sense of calm, much like the instrument that this female model looks like.  

Nude art has remained an essential focus of Western art, artists from the seventeenth century to today, have privileged the nude form and made it an endlessly compelling means of creative expression.  Expression is key when photographing a nude in this case, as the expression of the overall image will determine whether or not the image is aesthetically pleasing. Man Ray, quite clearly uses the shadows and shapes well in some of his nude images, but you can almost definitely see the surrealism within each one.  The nude itself is quite prominent with his images, the top half of the female nude seems as if it is the most concentrated part of the body whereas other nude series looks at all parts of the body, saying this I do think with Man Ray's work your still do not feel as if you are looking at a naked body, You see the art side, whether it be by the positions, or editing. 

After looking at the nude's of three famous photographers, Sally Mann, Bill Brandt and Man Ray, I definitely know what makes a 'nude' a 'nude',  I still find all of the images fascinating from all three artists, and still want to test out some more nudes of my own.  Looking at the body is really helpful to my ideas, for all different positions, angles, shapes and these can all be used in my body movements work.