Man Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitzky on 27 August 1890 in Philadelphia, died on 18 November 1976 in Paris, was perhaps one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Painter, photographer and film producer, he was involved in the Dada movement in New York, then the Surrealist movement in Paris, where he lived for most of his life. Whilst he is mostly celebrated for his avant-garde photography, he considered himself to be a painter first and foremost.