Man Ray's Montparnasse

by Herbert R. Lottman

"For the first thirty years of the twentieth century, the streets surrounding the intersection of the boulevard du Montparnasse and the boulevard Raspail marked the center of avant-garde Europe. Man Ray's Montparnasse introduces the reader to this small section of Paris on the Left Bank during a time of artistic ferment and experimentation, of private affairs that became public ones, and of political and social change.". "Man Ray, the renowned photographer, was there to document it all. His world was filled with artists, writers, and poets, and his camera was his key, allowing him access to cafes, salons, artists' studios, and writers' homes. Within a year of his arrival, he was invited to be Gertrude Stein's official portraitist and to record the image of Marcel Proust on his deathbed. He photographed Pablo Picasso and Peggy Guggenheim, made films alongside the Dadaists, and played chess with Marcel Duchamp. Illustrated with Man Ray's own photographs, this book chronicles a legendary