Man Ray

Emblematic figure for the development of avant-garde movements Dadaism and Surrealism both in Europe and in America, Man Ray is considered one of the most significant artists of 20th century.

Among the most versatile and creative artists of the twentieth century, Man Ray (1890 – 1976) - was one of the most radical and multifaceted representatives of Dadaism and Surrealism. Born in Philadelphia in 1890, he experienced the Greenwich Village at the time of the avant-garde, following the famous Armory show in New York in 1913; Paris in the Twenties and Thirties, in which he played a key role in the Dada and Surrealist Movements; the Hollywood of the 1940s, where he joined other European war refugees; and finally Paris again until his death in 1976.

In Paris Man Ray met Dino Gavina. At the beginning the meeting was tense because the artist thought he was facing a journalist or a critic. Then his aggression turned into kindness as soon as he realized that Gavina wanted nothing more than to know him. From the corridor they went to the atelier, and stayed together for hours. At that precise moment an extraordinary lifelong friendship and collaboration was born.