Meticulous artists have been known to rip up their canvases when their work isn't perfect. But the American artist Man Ray took a different approach.
While working late in his Paris darkroom in 1921, the artist inadvertently placed some glass equipment on top of an unexposed sheet of photographic paper. Eventually, a phantom image formed, captivating his attention and spurring a new form he called rayographs. These pieces are among 160 works featured in a new show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Man Ray: When Objects Dream is on view through February 1, 2026.
This exhibition is the first major show exploring rayographs, a type of cameraless photograph emblematic of Man Ray's radical experimentation.