Joseph Stella and Marcel Duchamp

1918

His first significant photographs

Having picked up the camera to document his own artwork, Ray produces his first significant photographs; from 1918 he takes up photography and film in earnest, experimenting with photograms, solarization and other techniques.

1920

Founding the Société Anonyme

Man Ray, Katherine Dreier and Marcel Duchamp found the Société Anonyme, an itinerant collection that becomes the first museum of modern art in the United States; in 1941 its collection is donated to the Yale University Art Gallery.

1921

His first Paris exhibition at the Galerie Six

Ray's first solo exhibition in Paris is held at the Galerie Six, organised by Philippe Soupault; for it he creates his first Dadaist work in France, The Gift (Le Cadeau).

c. 1921

Rayographs: photograms without a camera

His accidental rediscovery of the cameraless photogram, which he calls 'rayographs', produces images hailed by Tristan Tzara as 'pure Dada creations'.

c. 1921

Meeting Kiki de Montparnasse

Shortly after arriving in Paris Ray meets and falls in love with Alice Prin, known as Kiki de Montparnasse, an artists' model and celebrated figure of Paris bohemian circles. She remains his companion for most of the 1920s, the subject of some of his most famous photographs, and stars in his films Le Retour à la raison and L'Étoile de mer.

July 1921

Moving to Paris, Montparnasse

In July 1921 Ray goes to live and work in Paris, settling in the Montparnasse quarter favoured by many artists.