Man Ray Quotes

I would photograph an idea rather than an object, a dream rather than an idea.

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture you need a camera, a photographer and above all a subject. It is the subject that determines the interest of the photograph.

When I saw I was under attack from all sides, I knew I was on the right track.

My works were designed to amuse, annoy, bewilder, mystify and inspire reflection.

To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society.

Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.

To create is divine, to reproduce is human.

I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence.

I have been accused of being a joker. But the most successful art to me involves humor.

Reality is fabricated out of desire.

You don’t ask a writer what typewriter he uses.

The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers.

I believe in the relation between photography and music; And thats my inspiration.

I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.

There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love.

Oh, yes, I was a great retoucher. A retoucher is an esthetic surgeon !

It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them.

I never knew what I was doing until I was done.

If the affairs of the world were put in the hands of the screwball artists, it couldn’t be in a worse state than it is now !

Dada cannot live in New York. All New York is dada, and will not tolerate a rival.

A creator needs only one enthusiast to justify him.

Just as I work with paints, brushes, and canvas, I work with the light, pieces of glass and chemistry.

Lipstick is the red badge of courage.

Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

All critics should be assassinated.

If I'd had the nerve, I'd have become a thief or a gangster, but since I didn't, I became a photographer.

I paint what cannot be photographed, something from the imagination... I photograph the things I don't want to paint, things that are already in existence.

I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.

Quote me as much as you like; as a matter of fact I don’t even mind if you misquote me !

Speaking of nudes, I have always had a great fondness for this subject, both in my paintings and in my photos, and I must admit, not for purely artistic reasons.

Is photography an art? There is no point in trying to find out if it is an art. Art is old-fashioned. We need something else.

The tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow.

One of the satisfactions of a genius is his will-power and obstinacy.

An original is a creation motivated by desire.

A certain amount of contempt for the material employed to express an idea is indispensable to the purest realization of this idea.

In the same spirit, when the automobile arrived, there were those that declared the horse to be the most perfect form of locomotion.

An effort impelled by desire must also have an automatic or subconscious energy to aid its realization.

I have never painted a recent picture.

Thanks to my effort in the last 40 years, there has been more paper and film wasted.

I paint when I cannot photograph.

I am an economic person; I judge the amount of work involved with the amount of worth attained.

I am not going to be dictated to by the size of the camera. I use everything from an 8 x 10 to a 35-mm. But I don't use these modern cameras which break down all the time !

l photograph what l do not wish to paint and l paint that which l cannot photograph.