17 NYC art exhibitions we\u2019re most excited about in fall 2025<\/a><\/p>\nThis exhibition is the first major show exploring rayographs, a type of cameraless photograph emblematic of Man Ray’s radical experimentation. The Met’s show opens with a collection of 12 rayographs called\u00a0Champs d\u00e9licieux (Delicious Fields), all black-and-white and arranged in a tight grid on a wall. Featuring everyday objects like a comb and a key, they\u00a0look almost like\u00a02011-era Instagram grid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They looked startlingly new and mysterious.<\/p>\n
As he wrote in his 1963 autobiography, “Before my eyes an image began to form, not quite a simple silhouette of the objects as in a straight photograph, but distorted and refracted … In the morning I examined the results, pinning a couple of the Rayographs as I decided to call them\u00a0on the wall. They looked startlingly new and mysterious.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Photographs](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image.webp.webp\")
\nPhotograph: By Anna – Marie Kellen \/ Courtesy of The Met
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The title of the show, When Objects Dream, references a line from poet Trista Tzara who was witness to some of Man Ray’s earliest rayographs. Indeed, the exhibition feels dreamlike as it moves from in a loosely chronological fashion through the artist’s work, from paintings to photographs\u00a0and sculptures to more conceptual works. The show also underscores Man Ray’s\u00a0connections\u00a0to Dada and Surrealist movements. A section of botanical prints references so-called “sun prints,” the origins of the rayograph.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A professional provocateur, a true visionary, a manipulator in process.<\/p>\n
Conceptual pieces were a part of Man Ray’s practice from the very beginning.\u00a0Take a moment to appreciate his Revolving Doors, a series of colorful collages presented on a rotating stand (yes, you can spin it!). The artist also had a sense of humor, as seen in his 1920s Catherine Barometer.\u00a0The piece could indicate either a chance in air pressure or the unpredictable moods of its namesake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New Yorkers in particular should keep an eye out for a piece called NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR GOODS LEFT OVER THIRTY DAYS. The piece, inspired by a sign found in the trash, features a photograph of Man Ray’s studio at 47 West Eighth Street in 1920.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757626089_521_image.webp.webp\")
\nPhotograph: A Rayograph by Man Ray \/ Courtesy of The Met | Man Ray 2015 Trust \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY \/ ADAGP, Paris 2025
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You’ll even get to see objects from the artist’s studios over the years,\u00a0as well as facsimilies of film strips he produced. As he described it, “I went into my darkroom and cut up the [film] into short lengths, pinning them down on the worktable. On some of the strips I sprinkled salt and pepper, like a cook preparing a roast, on other strips I thew pins and thumbtacks at random; then turned on the white light for a second or two.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
This\u00a0supposed accident, now the stuff of legend,\u00a0is pivotal in understanding the artist Met CEO Max Hollein describes as “enigmatic.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757626089_224_image.webp.webp\")
\nPhotograph: “Le violon d\u2019Ingres” by Man Ray \/ Courtesy of The Met | Man Ray 2015 Trust \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY \/ ADAGP, Paris 2025
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“A professional provocateur, a true visionary, a manipulator in process, in context and meaning of art,” Hollein said at a press preview for the show. “He is known to be so experimental that he pushed really the limits of photography, but also painting, of sculpture, of film, of what art is, how art can be done and how art can come together.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meticulous artists have been known to rip up their canvases when their work isn’t perfect. But the American…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1029,228,226,227,41833,229,88,41834],"class_list":{"0":"post-149883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-categories-art","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-news-art"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}