Oil Paint
Oil paint is a slow-drying art medium made with pigment and a drying-oil binder that allows extended working time, smooth blending, and layered application.
Painter
Man Ray
Man Ray was an American Dada and Surrealist artist who combined experimental oil painting, playful objects, chance compositions, and camera-less photography.
Man Ray quick facts
Man Ray began as a painter and developed compositions from accidents and paper cutouts before becoming renowned for photography and Rayographs.
| Born | 1890 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
|---|---|
| Died | 1976 · Paris, France |
| Nationality | American |
| Movements | Dada; Surrealism |
| Paint types | Oil Paint |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas |
| Painting methods | Abstract arrangements derived from discarded paper shapes, sharply defined color areas, silhouetted figures, and painted visual illusions |
| Common subjects | Dancers, shadows, machines, abstract objects, portraits, and imaginative symbols |
| Notable works | The Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows · Admiration of the Orchestrelle for the Cinematograph · A l'heure de l'observatoire—les amoureux |
| Other practice | Rayographs (camera-less photographic prints) and constructed objects, distinct from painted supports |
Sources: MoMA: The Rope Dancer, oil on canvas, MoMA: Dada highlights including Man Ray, MoMA: Man Ray biography.
Paint types used
The Rope Dancer was executed entirely in oil paint, despite developing from paper collage experiments that suggested shapes of moving shadows.
Surface types used
MoMA documents Man Ray's major early Dada painting The Rope Dancer as oil on canvas, a prepared woven support suited to its large color planes.
Canvas
Canvas is a woven fabric support, commonly cotton or linen, used for painting and sold either raw or prepared with a compatible ground layer.
Painters similar to Man Ray
Picabia and Ernst shared Man Ray's Dada interest in machinery, chance, improbable imagery, and the boundaries of painting.
Francis Picabia
Francis Picabia was a French avant-garde painter associated with Dada, known for machine imagery, shifting styles, abstract paintings, and playful provocations.
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German-born painter associated with Dada and Surrealism, known for uncanny scenes, collage, frottage, and scraped paint textures.