Man Ray (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1890–1976 Paris), "Marchesa Luisa Casati," ca. 1922, Gelatin silver print. © Man Ray 2015 Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris 2025.

#photography #portraiture #portrait #art

Man Ray’s portrait of Marchesa Luisa Casati is emblematic of the transitional period between Dada and Surrealism, the experimental mouvement flou-flou (“blurry” or “out of focus”).

The effect wasn’t intentional. A short circuit in the studio lights and Casati’s refusal to stay still blurred the image—an accident she adored, insisting it “portrayed her soul.”

See this and more in “Man Ray: When Objects Dream,” on view through February 1, tracing his radical innovations across the 1910s and 1920s.