Avant-Garde, Man Ray, and Photograms

Purpose:

To learn about and understand the Avant-Garde movement and artists associated with it;

To learn and understand the history of Photograms;
To become familiar with Man Ray;

To understand and demonstrate how to make a photogram;

To learn and demonstrate basic darkroom procedures

What is Avant-Garde?

Avant-Garde is a term to describe any artist, movement, concepts, or forms that go against the status-quo and questions pre-existing boundaries in the world using art. Henri de Saint-Simon was the first to use the term to call artists to do their duty and spread new ideas using their talents. It was originally used in a political context, but shifted more towards artistic uses and radical techniques. The term avant-garde refers to anything before its time, and was the roots of the contemporary "art movement". Some major art movements include cubism, expressionism, impressionism, minimalism, pop art, and surrealism. Overall, avant-garde art pieces are timeless messages that relate to the world, whether it's modern or historical.

Guernica

A 1937 work by Pablo Picasso, Guernica is an iconic painting known as a cry of protest against the Spanish Civil War. The spark to this painting was the April 26th German and Italian bombing of the Basque City of Guernica in support for the nationalist forces fighting against the Spanish government. Guernica became a symbol for tragedies all over the modern world due to its muted colors and painful expressions.

I Like America and America Likes Me

Joseph Beuys, the artist behind this photo, spent three days living with a wild coyote as well as forming a relationship with it. Coyotes are symbols of Native American mythology, but when Europeans were settling in the Americas, they saw coyotes as pests that needed to be eradicated. Beuys believed that his action of living with a coyote would help to heal racial and economic wounds in America. This was one of Beuys' first actions intending to change society for the better.

Bed-In for Peace

Bed-In for Peace is one of the most famous and well-known performative peace actions and examples of avant-garde of all time. These "Bed-Ins" were meant as anti-war protests in relation to the ongoing Vietnam War, and was first held at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, and then in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. It was an experiment to find new ways to promote peace and nonviolence.

Who is Man Ray?

Man Ray, born on August 27th, 1890, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a photographer and painter who contributed to both the Surrealist and Dada movements. He studied art and architecture in New York, and eventually became a painter. Both Surrealism and Dada are avant-garde movements. He had an early appreciation for photography, and once he moved to Paris, he eventually started to experiment with photography. While in Paris, he discovered how to make photograms, which are cameraless pictures. He called them rayographs, named after himself. He continued to paint, photograph, and experiment with other mediums such as film throughout his lifetime, and created many photographic projects during his time in Paris. He published an autobiography called Self-Portrait, and overall was an extremely influential artist to the avant-garde movement. He unfortunately died on November 18th, 1976, but his legacy has had a lasting effect on the art world.

What is a Photogram?

A photogram is an image that is produced without a camera by using photosensitive paper. You place an item of choice, could be your hand or an actual object, onto the photosensitive paper and expose light to it.

Sources:

Editors, Artland. "Avant-Garde – Art That Breaks Barriers". Artland Magazine, 7 July 2021, https://magazine.artland.com/avant-garde/. Accessed 28 April 2023.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Man Ray". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Man-Ray. Accessed 28 April 2023.
“Photogram.” The Free Dictionary. The Free Dictionary, https://www.thefreedictionary.com/photogram. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

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