Man Ray was born in 1890, the son of Russian immigrants in Philadelphia and raised in Brooklyn. One of his earliest memories was of a dada-like act: pressing his childish hands onto the bright green wetness of freshly painted shutters. He was born with the name Emmanuel Radensky but was given the name Man Ray by his family when he was fifteen and wished to be known only by that name. He moved with his family to New York City where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts and the Ferrer School, based on avant-garde curriculum, which emphasized free-thinking and non conformity. From that time on he was largely self-taught.

As a young man he haunted the modern art exhibits at the gallery run by Alfred Stieglitz, who ...