"Man Ray is the quintessential modernist figure: photographer, painter, object maker and collagist, filmmaker and printmaker, poet, essayist and philosopher. Born Emanuel Radnitsky in 1890, he went on to become the leader of the "American avant-garde" and the most enigmatic of the Dada-Surrealists who transformed the Paris art world during the ferment of the 1920's and beyond. This profile follows the creative genius from his youth in Brooklyn to his glory days in Paris and, finally, to his impact on future generations of artist in a variety of fields" -- Container.