Man Ray's Female Circle Takes Center Stage in Turin Exhibition

A new exhibition at CAMERA in Turin, curated by Walter Guadagnini, shifts focus from Man Ray as a solitary genius to the creative women in his orbit. Titled 'Le seduzioni di Man Ray,' the show highlights figures like Berenice Abbott, Lee Miller, Dora Maar, Meret Oppenheim, and Nusch Éluard, who were not merely muses but artists in their own right. Guadagnini notes that while Man Ray's 1934 monograph was half-dedicated to female subjects, the independent artistic lives of these women have been overlooked. The exhibition includes Abbott's rapid rise from studio assistant to rival portraitist, Miller's transition from model to photographer, and Oppenheim's iconic fur-covered teacup. A dedicated room reconstructs the 'Rue Surréaliste' from the 1938 Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, featuring Man Ray's photographs of mannequins later compiled into a rare 1960s portfolio. Key works include 'Erotique voilée' (1933) showing a nude Oppenheim at a press, and two series: 'The Fifty Faces of Juliet' (1941-55) and 'La mode au Congo' (1937), the latter reflecting primitivist appropriation. The show opens with a Man Ray portrait of Andy Warhol, underscoring the artist's early engagement with multiples and repetition. Photographs from the ASAC in Venice, last exhibited at the Biennale during Man Ray's lifetime, are all later prints, challenging the cult of the vintage original.