Top 15 Man Ray Quotes

I like contradictions. We have never attained the infinite variety and contradictions that exist in nature. Tomorrow I shall contradict myself. That is the one way I have of asserting my liberty, the real liberty one does not find as a member of society.

I believe in the relation between photography and music; And thats my inspiration.

It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them.

An original is a creation motivated by desire. Any reproduction of an originals motivated be necessity. It is marvelous that we are the only species that creates gratuitous forms. To create is divine, to reproduce is human.

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

The tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow.

Unconcerned but not indifferent.

The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers.”
Man Ray

Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.

To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society.

You see, I try to walk the tightrope of accomplishment between the chasms of notoriety and oblivion.

I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions. Quoted in PBS episode of American Masters

I have been accused of being a joker. But the most successful art to me involves humor.

l paint what cannot be photographed, and l photograph what l do not wish to paint. lf it is a portrait that interests me, a face, or a nude, I will use my camera. It is quicker than making a drawing or a painting. But if it is something I cannot photograph, like a dream or a subconscious impulse I have to resort to drawing or painting. To express what I feel I use the medium best suited to express that idea, which is also always the most economical one. l am not at all interested in being consistent as a painter, and object-maker or a photographer. I can use several different techniques, like the old masters who were engineers, musicians and poets at the same time. I have never shared the contempt shown by painters for photography: there is no competition involved, painting and photography are two media engaged in different paths. There is no conflict between the two.

An original is a creation motivated by desire. Any reproduction of an original is motivated by necessity. The original is the result of an automatic process, the reproduction, of a mechanical process. In other words: Inspiration then information; each validates the other. All other considerations are beyond the scope of these statements. It is marvelous that we are the only species that creates gratuitous forms. To create is divine, to reproduce is human.