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STUDIO MAN R AY
Photographs by Ira Nowinski
STUDIO MAN RAY
Photographs by Ira Nowinski
Alla Efimova
Chief Curator
Ira Nowinski
An excerpt from The Studio of Man Ray (Nazraeli Press, 2006).
Studio Man Ray has been made possible through a grant from The Reva and David Logan
Foundation, along with generous support and loans from Michael Dawson Gallery, Paige
Gallery, and Connie and Stephen Wirtz.
JUDAH L. MAGNES MUSEUM
2911 Russell Street
Berkeley, CA 94705
510.549.6950 Fax 510.849.3673
www.magnes.org
Man Ray was born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia and raised in Brooklyn. In 1911, the
Radnitzky family changed their surname to Ray in reaction to the ethnic discrimination and
anti-Semitism. In 1921 Man Ray moved to Paris where he made his living as a professional
fashion and portrait photographer while radicalizing the use of photography in the context
of Dada and Surrealist movements. He became internationally famous as the photographer
of Parisian artists between the wars.
This exhibition will display San Francisco photographer Ira Nowinski’s documentation of
Man Ray’s studio inside and out, preserving the Paris studio on film exactly as it had been
during Man Ray’s final days. Several of Man Ray’s three-dimensional works will be on loan
from Stephen Wirtz of the Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco.
Ira Nowinski, Back shelf wall near kitchen with matchbox picture,
1983, Gelatin silver print. Copyright 2007 Man Ray Trust/ADAGP
Ira Nowinski, Eye, 1983, Gelatin silver print. Copyright 2007 Man
Ray Trust/ADAGP
Ira Nowinski, Darkroom with negative boxes and box of Agfa portrait
film, 1983, Gelatin silver print. Copyright 2007 Man Ray
Trust/ADAGP
Ira Nowinski, Shelf wall with various objects and drawings, 1983,
Gelatin silver print. Copyright 2007 Man Ray Trust/ADAGP
Ira Nowinski, Rue Férou façade, 1983, Gelatin silver print. Copyright 2007
Man Ray Trust/ADAGP
Le Violon d’Ingres was a print after the original 1924 image. This is
perhaps Man Ray’s most celebrated photograph, an image of Kiki of
Montparnasse. The title is a multi-layered pun. The French expression
“Violon d’Ingres” means “artistic hobby” and derives from Ingres’
enthusiasm for the violin. Man Ray has transformed Kiki into an Ingres-
like odalisque and through a simple graphic device has simultaneously
evoked the form of a violin.
Ira Nowinski
Various objects on Le Beau Temps wall
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Leather shadow
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Mezzanine table with lamp, pipes, antique iron, and Café Man Ray
1983
Giclée print on canvas (2007)
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Café Man Ray is made after the original object (1948). While living in
Hollywood, Man Ray met the young gallery owner William Copley,
who promoted the work of Surrealists. Copley organized an exhibition
of Man Ray’s works with a catalogue titled To Be Continued Unnoticed
Unnoticed.
The original object served as a doorknocker at the opening night of the
exhibition on December 13, 1948.
Ira Nowinski
Back shelf wall near kitchen with matchbox picture
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Surrealist library, with handmade book by Brassaï
1983
Gelatin silver print (2002)
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Darkroom with negative boxes and box of Agfa portrait film
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Danger Haute Tension, hand painted sign on vestibule door
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Couch with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photograph of Marcel Duchamp
and Man Ray
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Couch with Le Manche dans la Manche and various objects
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
This object (1967) was made after the original (1921) consisting of a
hammer inserted in a mil bottle. Le Manche dans la Manche is a play on
words in French, literally meaning the handle in the sleeve, which has
obvious sexual connotations.
Ira Nowinski
Bedroom with L’Observatoire and two paintings, one of Juliet
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Shelf wall with various objects and drawings
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Bedroom with L’Observatoire and two paintings, one of Juliet
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Man Ray’s self-portrait
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Mezzanine with tack box, various nails
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Objects on shelf wall
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Michael Dawson Gallery
Ira Nowinski
Books, Rome Prize, Hommage a Sade
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Michael Dawson Gallery
Ira Nowinski
Hand and mailbox
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Michael Dawson Gallery
Ira Nowinski
View of studio from mezzanine, with parachute that covered
main space
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Back wall with stairs to the mezzanine. Parachute attached
to the mezzanine covers main studio.
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Michael Dawson Gallery
Ira Nowinski
Juliet in heart-shaped glasses
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
The painting Le Beau Temps, with photographs, objects,
and lithograph of L’Observatoire
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Rue Férou façade
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Surrealist library detail
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Michael Dawson Gallery
Man Ray
Indicateur II
1969
Metal
Courtesy of Stephen Wirtz Gallery
Lou Jacobs, Jr. (b. 1921) grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and graduated from
Carnegie Mellon University, with a major in industrial design. After
serving during World War II, he moved to California where he studied
photojournalism at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.
He worked on a series of portraits of Southern California artists during
1949-50. Man Ray is photographed in his studio on Vine Street in Los
Angeles, where he and Juliet Browner lived for ten years.
Man Ray
Le pain peint (Book with Blue Bread)
Alexandre Iolas, 1972
Courtesy of Stephen Wirtz Gallery
Based on an actual baguette which Man Ray painted blue in 1958, titled
Pain Peint—Blue Bread: Favorite Food for Blue Birds. In addition to the
play on words in the title, Man Ray likened the French title Pain Peint to
the sirens of a fire engine.
Man Ray
I 50 Volti Di Juliet (The 50 Faces of Juliet)
Milano, Gabriele Mazzotta, 1981
Courtesy of Ira Nowinski
Ira Nowinski
Photograph of Juliet and Man Ray, Los Angeles circa 1940s in
front of chess board painting
1983
Giclée print on canvas (2007)
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige
Ira Nowinski
Photograph of Indicateur II, 1969 [Indicateur in italics]
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Michael Dawson Gallery
Ira Nowinski
Various objects, Leather shadow
1983
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Kenneth Paige