Man Ray

 Man Ray wad an artist unconstructed by rules who considered the medium in which he worked a mere service for his ideas. 'Man ray challenged our notions of beauty to an extent that still forms our outlook today.' The video below, is a work in experimental Dadaism, Le Retour a la Raison was the first film to be made by the artist. The film was made soon after he moved to Paris in the early 1920's to found the Dada movement. The early segments of the film illustrate a technique which Man Ray pioneered in static photography.The Rayography requires an object to be placed between a light source and photo-sensitive film. For Le Retour a la Raison, Ray extended the rayograph technique to moving the image. He sprinkled salt and pepper on one piece of film pins on another. Illuminated the film for a few seconds, then developed the film, resulting the images to a hypnotize the conscious. Man Ray added additional sequences to make the film have a sufficient impact, he shot night scenes at fairgrounds and a paper mobile that appears ti dance with its shadow. For the final few seconds he shot a naked torso which illuminates the striped light. 

'The film was first shown shown at the "Cœur à Barbe" evening at the Theater Michel in July 6th 1923. However the film was ill-received by the audience, partly because the film broke twice during its projection.'