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Vol. I · 2026
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Fashion & Entertainment · USA · Russian Empire

Man Ray

Мэн Рэй

Born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia to Russian-Jewish immigrants; Dada and Surrealist photographer

🇺🇸 Fame: USA🇷🇺 Origin: Russian Empire🔗 Connection: Ancestry🗣 Russian: No
MR
Profile #566
ProfessionArtist (Surrealism)
Russian originRussian Empire (towns not documented)Russian Empire
ConnectionAncestryMelach Radnitzky; Manya Radnitzky (née L…
RussianNo
CategoryFashion & EntertainmentTier B
Biography

Man Ray — artist (surrealism) with roots in the Russian Empire

Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky) was an American visual artist and a central figure of Dada and Surrealism in Paris. He made cameraless photograms he called rayographs, and with Lee Miller rediscovered solarisation; he photographed Duchamp, Joyce, Stein and much of the Parisian avant-garde.

Russian Connection

Tracing the roots — Russian Empire (towns not documented)

Born in South Philadelphia in 1890 to Melach "Max" Radnitzky, a tailor, and Manya "Minnie" Radnitzky (née Lourie or Luria), Russian-Jewish immigrants; the family later lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The towns the parents came from are not named in the sources.

Family Tree
Subject
Man Ray🇺🇸 USA
↑
Parents
Melach Radnitzky
Manya Radnitzky (née Lourie/Luria)
↑
Origin
Russian Empire (towns not documented)🇷🇺 Russian Empire
Historical context
Russian Empire · c. 1721–1917
Map of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire (towns not documented). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.

Map: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
Key Achievements

A career defined by ambition

01
Central figure of Dada and Surrealism — Paris, 1920s–30s
02
Rayographs — his cameraless photograms
03
Rediscovered solarisation with Lee Miller
04
Photographed Joyce, Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Duchamp, Hemingway
05
Le Violon d'Ingres (1924)

"I photograph what I do not wish to paint and I paint what I cannot photograph."

Man Ray
Russian diasporaRussian Empire roots
Sources