danuv

I finished Man Ray's Montparnassee last night. It was precisely the light sort of biography I needed to break up the Women in Dada book for a bit. It did not solve the question raised by two pictures I found in this book of Man Ray photographs. I already had questions about the handling of women in Man Ray's art before my new stack of books came this week, but these two pictures were much more blatant than anything I'd seen before. They looked as though they would be right at home in a modern fetish book but removed from that context I'm not really sure what to think about them or his intent. I'm quite curious. The only thing the new bio really gave to help was an indication that he seemed to be drawn to women who humiliated him in various ways. At least three of the major relationships in his life were with women who cheated on him openly or nearly so, his wife, Kiki and Lee Miller. I need more Man Ray books, ones that go more into depth about his relationships. Alas, no money for books for a while.

Really I already have plenty here that I need to get read. I'm halfway through the Women in Dada book and I just started this book about the Ballet Russe. I'm not sure how much information it will give me, but gosh it is full of gorgeous pictures. I'm seriously in need of a scanner. There don't seem to be any very comprehensive dance history pages out there. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places or something. I wish someone would make some of the old movies of dances available some way.