Man Ray

Artist:  Emmanuel Radnitzky (Man Ray)

Birth-Death:  8/27/1890 – 11/18/1976

Movement:  Surrealism, Dadaism

Bio:  Born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1890, Emmanuel Radnitzky was the eldest son of Russian-Jewish immigrants.  In reaction to the anti-Semitism and ethnic discrimination in 1912, the Radnitzky family changed their last name to Ray.  Man Ray's father was a garment factory worker, and he also ran a small tailoring business out of his home.  Man Ray and his siblings worked for his father's business at a young age, which inspired much of his art later on (working with garments, patchwork, and tailoring materials).  After his graduation from high school, he decided to become an artist, declining a scholarship to study architecture.  Around 1916, Man Ray began involving himself with the Dada movement.  Dada was considered an "anti-art" movement, rejecting the prevailing standards of art and implementing anti-war politics.  In 1921, he moved to Paris, where he resided for nearly 20 years.  Back and forth between Paris and America, he spent about half of his life in each place (roughly forty years each).

            Similarly to the other artists profiled in this blog, Man Ray was raised in working class conditions – literally "rags" to "riches."  Like Mark Rothko, he was from a Russian-Jewish family of immigrants whom changed their names (Rothko was originally "Rothkowitz").  Man Ray actively challenged the "civilization" of art and its supposed sophistication by participating in the Dada movement.  Also like Rothko, he seemed to have been aware of his status in the art society.  He also rejected the concept of a status.

            The first video above talks about Man Ray's fascination and utilization of African art, and how it became fashionable because of his photographs.  The tone of the woman in the video, as well as the narrator, is much more formal than that of the second video.  Though the second video focuses more on African art than Man Ray, the woman is an artist who understands her society.  She mentions appropriation of art, and continues to note that curators, art historians, and writers are really the only ones concerned with it – not artists.  Artists are more concerned with their expression and work.  How does this idea of curators/historians/writers/etc. talking more about money than artists do tie into the concept of uncivilized people becoming famous in a civilized world?

Rothko

Artist:  Mark Rothko

Birth-Death:  9/25/1903 – 2/25/1970

Movement:  Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting

Bio:  Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, Vitebsk Provence, Russian Empire in 1903.  Because Rothko was Jewish, and Jews had been widely blamed for many of Russia's problems at the time, he lived most of his childhood in fear of being harmed.  In 1913, he immigrated to America with his mother and sister to meet his father and brothers, whom had already left to avoid being drafted into the Czarist army.  Rothko's father died a few months later, however, leaving the family with no income.  He soon started working at the age of ten, and then started school the same year as a third grader.  He learned four languages by the time he started school – Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and English.  He later attended Yale on a scholarship, but he found it to be too racist and elitist, so he quickly dropped out.  In 1923, Rothko visited a friend at the Art Students League of New York, where he witnessed several students sketching a model.  In short, he was inspired by this event to enter the art world.

            Rothko's upbringing was practically the antithesis of the distinguished upper class involved in the art world.  He was from a working class family, living in Russia.  Not only that, but he was a Russian Jew, which was even less respected in his country of origin.  He even had to work while he was a child in school.  Although he attended Yale, Rothko dropped out because he knew he did not belong to such a pompous circle of scholars.  He was not brought up to be "civilized," but when the opportunity to become so was presented to him, he rejected it and wished to remain himself – unchanged by the elitism he faced.

            Regarding Rothko's rejection of Yale and the Four Seasons restaurant offer in the video above, as well as his famous quote reenacted in the second video, it is apparent that he was aware of his profession's cold and business-oriented mentality.  Does this awareness reinforce the idea that he painted purely for his own expression?  How do his paintings serve as refusals to adhere to societal guidelines?

 

Pollock

Artist:  Jackson Pollock

Birth-Death:  1/28/1912 - 8/11/1956

Movement:  Abstract Expressionism

Bio:  Born in Cody, Wyoming, 1912, Pollock was the son of Leroy Pollock and Stella May McClure.  His father was a farmer, and then later a land surveyor for the government.  In 1928, Jackson Pollock was expelled from his high school.  He then attended Los Angeles' Manual Arts High School, from which he was also expelled.  In 1930, he and his brother moved to New York City where they studied at the Art Students League of New York.  Pollock worked for the WPA Federal Art Project from 1935-1943.  From 1938-1942 he underwent psychotherapy with different doctors in an attempt to fight his alcoholism.  Eventually, in 1956, he died in an alcohol-induced car accident.

            Just as Basquiat and Warhol, Pollock was born into a working class family.  Both he and his father worked for the government.  Also similar to Basquiat and Warhol, he had trouble in school.  Instead of dropping out or being an outcast, however, he was expelled twice.  These events may give some insight into the aggression often associated with his work.  His method of drip painting and abstract expressionism, while not the very first of its kind, was a challenge to the art world.  Some argue that there is meaning behind every painting, while others argue that Pollock had no intention of giving his work meaning, that it was purely aesthetic – like a cloud in the sky.  When comparing his paintings to a realistic Italian Renaissance painting, it is interesting to note that they are both considered some of the highest forms of art, despite their extreme differences and qualities. 

          After watching the three videos above, from Jackson Pollock talking about himself, to an artistic documentary about him, to a local news special profiling him, how do the tones change with each video?  Who is the target audience of each video, and how is this apparent in each?