Man Ray was born the son of Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia. He moved to Brooklyn where he was able to learn a broad scope of the arts and have access to all of New York's resources. There he met Steiglitz and became interested in the 291-gallery crowd, but it was when he became acquainted with New York City's Dadaists that exploration of his self such as this became possible.

The time this photograph was taken explains much about why it was taken. The period between the world wars was arguably the most prolific period in photography's history in terms of qua

ntity produced and variety. Modernism in Europe was busy tackling new subject matter and expressing itself in every way possible. Images were manipulated in ways foretelling of much of photography's future, including what is so possible digitally. However, the most important thing is perhaps that this movement was embodied by the belief that expressing yourself in anyway is possible. In other photography movements previously, large groups of people tended to represent similar ideas.

With these intentions given I believe that the photograph works. Content does not overrule form or vice versa. This is an important factor as much of the work being produced in this time period was obsessed with form, and I do not always believe the amount of content is sufficient. Man Ray is decisive in his attempts to ironically portray this woman as a general figure but also conduct an accurate portrait of this particular woman's soul.

Man Ray's intentions are not altogether clear in the photograph as it operates on so many levels. Unless that was his main intent, he points out the irony of the shape of the women's body in comparison to a violin. Man Ray also depicts a portrait of the woman with delicate care given to her back and profile. This work is reminiscent of the painter Inges who also took great care too showing women abstractly focusing on the curves of their back but also with subtle eroticism depicted in the time's obsession with orientalism. This is

Some common words found in the essay are:
Photogenic Drawings, Europe United, Emmanuel Rudnitsky, Modernism Europe, City's Dadaists, Nietzche Kierkegaard, Violin D'Ingres, Technically Ray, Ray American, Europe Historically, construction photograph, hair type, woman represented,
Approximate Word count = 988
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)