the documentary was indeed informative insofar as it told me about man ray's career, when he started, how he got to france, that photography was not the only medium in which he worked. on the other hand, i objected to the documentary's angle; it placed great significance on his romantic life as well as his social popularity. in that way, the documentary seemed to do little to further its viewers understanding of twentieth century art but rather has given us one more example of a paris/manhattan celebrity artist who rubbed elbows with the brightest, who loved gorgeous women passionately, and whose acheivements we cannot dream of matching. but, like i said, it's always nice to see more work of an artist, beyond the one or two prints that everyone knows.
also, as a big fan of proust's it was neat to learn that man ray was chosen to photograph the reclusive writer on his death bed.
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