Man Ray quotes

It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them. (Man Ray)
A creator needs only one enthusiast to justify him.
Man Ray
All critics should be assassinated.
Man Ray
One of the satisfactions of a genius is his will-power and obstinacy.
Man Ray
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.
Man Ray
To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society.
Man Ray
I have been accused of being a joker. But the most successful art to me involves humor.
Man Ray
I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions. Quoted in PBS episode of American Masters.
Man Ray
Don't put my name on it. These are simply documents I make.
Man Ray
To create is divine, to reproduce is human.
Man Ray
I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive. (Man Ray)
Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.
Man Ray
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.
Man Ray
There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it.
Man Ray
unconcerned but not indifferent.
Man Ray
Throughout time painting has alternately been put to the service of the Church, the State, arms, individual patronage, scientific phenomena, anecdote and decoration ... all the marvelous works that have been painted, whatever the sources of inspiration, still live for us because of absolute qualities they possess in common. The creative force and the expressiveness of painting reside materially in the colour and texture of pigments, in the possibilities of form invention and organisation, and in the flat plane on which these elements are brought into play.
Man Ray
I have finally freed myself from the sticky medium of paint, and am working directly with light itself.
Man Ray
I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence.
Man Ray
Inspiration then information; each validates the other.
Man Ray
To express what I feel I use the medium best suited to express that idea, which is also always the most economical one.
Man Ray
Throughout time painting has alternately been put to the service of the Church, the State, arms, individual patronage, scientific phenomena, anecdote and decoration ... all the marvelous works that have been painted, whatever the sources of inspiration, still live for us because of absolute qualities they possess in common. (Man Ray)
An original is a creation motivated by desire. Any reproduction of an original is motivated by necessity.
Man Ray
There is ... your high bridge in Pasadena from which every once in a while someone jumps off, committing suicide. There is no question of removing the bridge. Poems have been written by well-known authors that are supposed to have driven love-sick young people to suicide. These works are not banned. Thousands lose their lives in automobile accidents, yet nothing is done to restrain manufacturers from building lethal instruments that can do more than 30 miles an hour. To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society. An unskilled cook or doctor can put our lives in danger. l have tried ... to paint a picture that would, like the beautiful head of Medusa, turn the spectator to stone ... so that certain ones who looked at it would drop dead ... but l have not yet succeeded!
Man Ray
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.
Man Ray