"Man Ray: When Objects Dream"

There were two shows that were "must see" at the Met and the first one was Man Ray, (1890-1976) who was an American Artist who was known for radical experiments that pushed the limits of photography, painting, sculpture and film.  Most of the work was painting and photography.  But this was fascinating - a "sculpture" made out of coat hangars hanging off of each other and then there were spotlights that projected shadows of the hangars on a white floor.  It was such a cool thing to see.

This is what he was known for, something called a "Rayograph."  He would go into a darkroom and with the lights out, put a piece of photographic paper on the counter and then place objects on the paper.  Then he would quickly turn on one single light bulb in the ceiling for a second or less, and then develop the paper.  Any objects would show up white because they blocked the light and where there was nothing it would be black.  Some objects were obvious, but many were not, as in this composition.  There were perhaps 60 of these on display.

This is another Rayograph, and much easier to see because the objects are familiar - the fronds of ferns.  This is quite beautiful as you can see.  So this exhibition was quite different than what you might expect ordinarily.