Man Ray Quotes

Quotes about:

• I would photograph an idea rather than an object, a dream rather than an idea.

  Man Ray

  Dream, Ideas, Photograph

  114 Copy quote

• Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

  Man Ray

  Photography, Inspiration, Technique

  "Photographers on Photography : A Critical Anthology". Book by Nathan Lyons (p. 80), 1966.

  111 Copy quote

• When I saw I was under attack from all sides, I knew I was on the right track.

  Man Ray

  Track, Saws, Sides

  93 Copy quote

• A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture you need a camera, a photographer and above all a subject. It is the subject that determines the interest of the photograph.

  Man Ray

  Cameras, Doe, Needs

  104 Copy quote

• My works were designed to amuse, annoy, bewilder, mystify and inspire reflection.

  Man Ray

  Reflection, Inspire, Annoying

  83 Copy quote

• I never knew what I was doing until I was done.

  Man Ray

  Done

  30 Copy quote

• Each one of us, in his timidity, has a limit beyond which he is outraged. It is inevitable that he who by concentrated application has extended this limit for himself, should arouse the resentment of those who have accepted conventions which, since accepted by all, require no initiative of application. And this resentment generally takes the form of meaningless laughter or of criticism, if not persecution.

  Man Ray

  Laughter, Criticism, Limits

  Man Ray (1934). “Photographs by Man Ray: 105 Works, 1920-1934”, p.11, Courier Corporation

  69 Copy quote

• Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.

  Man Ray

  Art, Mind, Doe

  60 Copy quote

• To create is divine, to reproduce is human.

  Man Ray

  Divine, Humans

  Man Ray (1973). “Opera Grafica”

  60 Copy quote

• You don’t ask a writer what typewriter he uses.

  Man Ray

  Typewriters, Use, Asks

  50 Copy quote

• To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society.

  Man Ray

  Art, Our Society, Members

  Curtis L. Carter, Man Ray, Francis M. Naumann (1989). “Man Ray in America”

  67 Copy quote

• I have been accused of being a joker. But the most successful art to me involves humor.

  Man Ray

  Art, Successful, Accused

  "Man Ray: Photographer". Interview with Philippe Sers, Camera Magazine, 1981.

  51 Copy quote

• I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.

  Man Ray

  Vision, Photograph

  "Prophet of the Avant-Garde". www.pbs.org. September 17, 2005.

  47 Copy quote

• Reality is fabricated out of desire.

  Man Ray

  Life, Reality, Desire

  Man Ray, Janus (1980). “Man Ray, the photographic image”, Barrons Educational Series Inc

  49 Copy quote

• The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers.

  Man Ray

  Dreamer, Craftsman, Admirable

  Man Ray, J. Paul Getty Museum (1998). “Man Ray: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum”, p.8, Getty Publications

  48 Copy quote

• I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence.

  Man Ray

  Photography, Wish, Paint

  As quoted in an interview "Man Ray: Photographer" published in Camera, edited by Philippe Sers, 1981.

  55 Copy quote

• I believe in the relation between photography and music; And thats my inspiration.

  Man Ray

  Photography, Believe, Inspiration

  48 Copy quote

• Just as I work with paints, brushes, and canvas, I work with the light, pieces of glass and chemistry.

  Man Ray

  Glasses, Light, Pieces

  23 Copy quote

• There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love.

  Man Ray

  Art, Making Love, Progress

  "To Be Continued, Unnoticed" by Man Ray, 1948.

  47 Copy quote

• If the affairs of the world were put in the hands of the screwball artists, it couldn’t be in a worse state than it is now !

  Man Ray

  Artist, Hands, World

  30 Copy quote

• Lipstick is the red badge of courage.

  Man Ray

  Red, Badges, Lipstick

  19 Copy quote

• A creator needs only one enthusiast to justify him.

  Man Ray

  Art, Needs, Justify

  "Self Portrait". Book by Man Ray, 1963.

  25 Copy quote

• Dada cannot live in New York. All New York is dada, and will not tolerate a rival.

  Man Ray

  New York, Rivals, Tolerate

  Herbert R. Lottman, Man Ray (2001). “Man Ray's Montparnasse”, Harry N. Abrams

  27 Copy quote

• Cut out the eye from a photograph of one who has been loved but is seen no more. Attach the eye to the pendulum of a metronome and regulate the weight to suit the tempo desired. Keep going to the limit of endurance. With a hammer well-aimed, try to destroy the whole at a single blow.

  Man Ray

  Eye, Cutting, Blow

  Roland Penrose (Sir.), Man Ray (1975). “Man Ray”, New York Graphic Society Books

  25 Copy quote

• It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them.

  Man Ray

  Dream, Art, Determination

  Julien Levy exhibition catalog, April 1945.

  32 Copy quote

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