Jennifer Mundy

The surrealist leader André Breton described desire as the "only master that man must recognize." One of surrealism's defining themes, desire was expressed variously in Dali's charged landscapes, Miró's lyric abstractions, and Bellmer's unsettling nudes. Influenced by Freud, the surrealists saw sexual desire as a path to self-knowledge--"a theatre of provocations and prohibitions in which life's most profound urges confront one another."
Published to accompany a major exhibition of show more international surrealism, held in London and New York, this lavishly-illustrated book shows how desire was implicated in almost all aspects of surrealist activities. Includes works by Hans Bellmer, Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, man Ray, Joan Miro, Dorothea Tanning, and others. show less

Like many people, I knew Man Ray only from his photographs of famous people, but did not know his background.
This is a fascinating account of Emmanuel Radnitsky (Man Ray) son of Russian emigres who, like most immigrants to America westernised their surnames.
This book is about his early life in Philadelphia and then Brooklyn and how he developed his art through his writings and correspondence.

This is a fascinating account of Emmanuel Radnitsky - Man Ray - son of Russian emegres, who like most immigrants to America westernised their surnames.
This book is about his early life in Philadelphia and later Brooklyn.
How he developed his art through his writings and correspondence.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Getty Publications via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

VG copy. Softcover