CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 2/28/2015

Man Ray: Human Equations

Man Ray's 1948 oil painting, "Julius Caesar"—produced during his decade-long exile in Hollywood, precipitated by the German occupation of Paris—is from Ray's Shakespearean Equation series, in which Ray drew upon his own pre-war photographic studies of mathematical models and appropriated titles from Shakespeare. Essayist Andrew Strauss writes, "The Shakespearean Equations reveal Man Ray at the height of his creative powers, employing a unique set of artistic skills that transcend media. His experience as a photographer allowed him to see the mathematical models in the Institut Poincaré as more than the mere visualization of abstract formulae, but as harboring a potential to be read anthropomorphically. His skill as a painter gave him the tools necessary to transform these images into a series of highly provocative paintings, and perhaps most importantly, his instinct to avoid convention gave him the liberty to assign each work with the title of a play from Shakespeare. Ultimately, he leaves the burden of interpretation with his viewers, an invitation that some might consider his ultimate Surrealist act."