Man Ray: Human Equations will for the first time display the original plaster, wood, papier-mâché, and string models from the Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP) in Paris side- by-side with Man Ray’s inventive photographs of these unusual forms and the series of Shakespearean Equation paintings they inspired in Hollywood in the late 1940s. No publication or exhibition has ever brought all three components together for an in-depth study. In fact, Man Ray never witnessed the triangle of mathematical object, photograph, and painting displayed as an ensemble.

These works will be placed in context with other paintings, photographs, and objects illustrating the artist’s proclivity to create art across media that objectifies the body and humanizes the object, transforming everyday objects into novel forms of creative expression. Featuring over 140 works (photographs, paintings, works on paper, assemblages, films, and original mathematical models), Man Ray: Human Equations will shed light on the development and appreciation of new art forms at the heart of the art/science matrix, including the so-called “Crisis of the Object” and the growing acceptance of photographs as works of art in their own right.

Man Ray’s true spirit and mastery of multiple media is revealed in this journey that traversed continents, leading him from three-dimensional objects to two-dimensional photography and ultimately to painting. The interdisciplinary nature of this project promises to appeal to a broad and diverse audience, including historians of art and of Shakespeare, mathematicians, photography aficionados, and the general public.

Exhibition page at the The Israel Museum web site