Ray's L.A.

Man Ray hated the fact that the world lionized him for his photographs—the ghostly solarizations, the flashy Rayographs, the women—while it neglected his other art forms. In Hollywood, where Ray lived from 1940 to 1951 (having left Paris because of the war), he was in the Temple of Typecasting. No matter what he made, it was the photographs critics wanted to write about. This put the American expatriate turned emigre in a polemical mood. He upped the ante on his experiments in painting, collage, and sculpture. On September 21, "Man Ray: Paris»LA" opens at the Robert Berman and Track 16 Galleries in Santa Monica, with some 200 works largely from Ray's feisty Hollywood days. Of special interest are the chess sets he designed (the Surrealist's game of choice)—oh, and some great photos of gals.

LAURA JACOBS