Champs délicieux 2ème rayographie

“The beauty of matter belongs to no one for henceforth it is a physico-chemical product.” (Tristan Tzara)

Man Ray, founder with Marcel Duchamp of the New York Dada group, settled in Paris in 1922. Six months after his arrival he made his first “rayographs “ by placing and then exposing various everyday objects – “the key to my hotel room, a handkerchief, pencils, a shaving brush, a piece of twine” - on a sheet of photosensitive paper. The next day, Tzara noticed the prints pinned to the wall and exclaimed: “it's pure Dada” ln December 1922 May Ray published some rayographs in the album entitled Les Champs délicieux [The Delicious Fields], accompanied by a preface by Tzara praising the regenerative virtues of photography compared ta old painting.