Man Ray Exhibition - National Portrait Gallery 7th Feburary - 27th May

The NPG Website introduces the Man Ray Portraits exhibition as the first major retrospective of Man Ray's photographic work and 'highlights his central position among the leading artists of the Dada and Surrealist movements' ... so in this respect at least, it does exactly what it says on the tin. His contributions to photography in terms of the innovative solarisation process (which was discovered during his partnership with Lee Miller) and his more infamous and surrealistic works are featured, but by and large neglected through the course of the exhibition (which is interesting since the exhibition pretty much exclusively features THE Lee Miller Portrait and THE Le Violon d'Ingres on all it's marketing across London and outside the building).

THE Lee Miller Portrait

What you mostly get from weaving the exhibition walls with the long snake of crowd, squinting at the 3inch 'vintage prints' of some writer or other, is an insight to the cult of personality built up around the celebrity of the time, and those especially who aligned themselves with Andre Breton as the nucleus of all things reactionary and Surrealist in the art world. The fact poorly exposed 'vintage' prints with Man Rays notations underneath are showcased instead of well realised reproductions that give credit to the aesthetic of the photograph, speaks volumes about how it seems more important to convey the significance of the person as opposed to the works they're known for. (Notes by the artist is something that also featured in the big Diane Arbus retrospective I visited last year, but to the credit of that absolutely awesome show, they committed a room at the end of the showing solely to her notes and journals instead of hindering the quality and flow of the key works.)

Perhaps if this exhibition didn't so closely resemble a precursor to the *insert celebrity obsessed world rant* we're in today, it mightn't irk me so much. It's not as if Man Ray doesn't warrant attention for his painting, lithographs and multitudinous artistic contributions without being reduced to the resident documenter of his famous buddies. In fact, if the show were a more comprehensive retrospective inclusive of all these other works, it might actually do him credit and be worthwhile to attend. As it stands, however, apart from a section devoted to his work with Miller, and select few portraits of people I've since discovered to be interesting artists (such as Ithell Colquhoun, who was an English Surrealist painter studying under Dali until she was, surprise-surprise, expelled by the meglomanical movement for her interest in the Occult) there wasn't much that grabbed the attention out of these lacklustre studio portraits.

The Surrealist Chessboard

The show is perhaps best summarised by the collage titled The Surrealist Chessboard, which is a prime example of the preoccupation with other artists with whom Ray socialised and collaborated. If you decide to check out this show which runs til 27th May, expect much much much more of the same.