Journal Entry #5: INSPIRATIONAL ARTISTS

1. How has this artist contributed to the field of study, which you plan to enter?
Man Ray who was an artist in the early 1900’s achieved much throughout his lifetime. He gave much to the dada and Surrealist movements but he was most known for his avant-garde photography. Like his photograph Dada Portrait (1921).
2. What achievements or developments make this person stand out in that field?
Some of his achievements are his helping the creation of the Rotary Glass Plate, which is an example of kinetic art. He also created a technique he called rayographs. He also helped collect art, which helped found the first museum of modern art in the U.S. He was also an extraordinary photographer who broke ground on many discoveries in the photographic field. For example reintroducing the photographic use of solarization.
3. What impressed you most about this artist?
I was really impressed by his photographs. I enjoyed seeing how much time and effort he put into capturing the human body. He really seemed to appreciate the human form. I was surprised though that I did not see many paintings of humans as I did photographs. I was also surprised at how much Man Ray enjoyed photographing a female nude, like in the photograph Le Violon d’Ingres (1924). Or even Kiki in Odalisque (1925).
4. How have they used dominance to organize or structure their work?
How he addressed dominance in his paintings was by putting most of the figures in the foreground like in Departure of Summer (1914). Also in his image of Apples (1948), the red apple is the largest piece of fruit in the painting. Or in the photographs the woman are usually in the very center of the piece commanding all the attention. Like in Kiki de Montfarnessa (1922). In all of his works he uses some kind of dominant structure.
5. How do they address the human form?
In many Man Ray’s photographs he mainly addresses woman in the nude and men fully clothed. The same also seems to be for his paintings. He seems to appreciate the human form so much that it is all he wants to capture.
6. In what ways have you been influenced after seeing their work?
I do appreciate his work. He has a unique gift that I have never seen in anyone else. But for me personally I do not really enjoy his work, and I don’t really feel that I have been influenced by it.
7. How does this artist use color? What color schemes or other mechanisms, such as emphasis or temperature, do they employ?
Man Ray does not use color in his photographs but in his paintings he seems to use more dull colors. He definitely uses a variety but none seem to be vibrant. He mainly uses complimentary color schemes with blue and red but occasionally he’ll add a green or yellow.