SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- One of the art world’s most notorious relationships comes alive with Man Ray | Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism on view July 14–October 14, 2012 in the Rosekrans Galleries at the Legion of Honor. The exhibition consists of approximately 115 photographs, paintings, drawings and manuscripts that explore the creative interaction between Man Ray and Lee Miller, two giants of European Surrealism. Organized by the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, this is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the pair’s artistic relationship. The works in the exhibition are drawn primarily from the Lee Miller Archives and Penrose Collection in Sussex, England, augmented for the San Francisco presentation by loans from important public and private collections in the United States. Included are selected works by artists in Ray and Miller’s circle in Paris, including paintings by Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Roland Penrose and Dora Maar and a small sculpture by Alexander Calder.

Man Ray and Lee Miller lived together in Paris from 1929 through 1932, first as teacher and student, and later as lovers. Their mercurial relationship resulted in some of the most powerful works of each artist’s career, and helped shape the course of modern art. The two artists inspired each other equally, collaborating on several projects. Though they lived together for only three years, Man Ray | Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism examines the lingering effect each had on the other’s art. Connecting photography with other media, and combining rare vintage photographs, paintings, sculpture and drawings, the exhibition reveals how the Surrealists combined imagery in playful and unexpected ways, creating extraordinary feats of imagination. It also offers a window into the maelstrom of artistic and social experimentation that animated Paris in the 1930s and gave inspiration to writers, poets, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists of all stripes.

Exhibition highlights include:

• Man Ray (1890–1976) A l’heure de l’observatoire – les amoureux (Observatory Time–The Lovers), ca. 1931

• Man Ray (1890–1976) Indestructible Object, originally made 1928, destroyed Paris 1957, replica 1959. Metronome with gelatin silver print of Lee Miller’s eye

• Man Ray (1890–1976) Lee Miller, ca. 1930. Solarized vintage gelatin silver print

• Lee Miller (1907–1977) Nude Bent Forward, ca. 1930. Digital color coupler print

• Lee Miller (1907–1977) Self Portrait, ca. 1930. Gelatin silver print

• Lee Miller (1907–1977) Portrait of Man Ray, 1931. Gelatin silver print

Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky, 1890–1976) was a leader in two pioneering modern art movements, Surrealism and Dada, but was never deeply invested in either of the two. Although accomplished as an avant-garde photographer, he eschewed labels and thought of himself primarily as a painter and as an artist wedded to no single medium. Man Ray's camerawork marked a turning point in the integration of photography among other visual art forms. When he and Lee Miller parted, Ray often lovingly and cleverly referred to her via coded motifs in his artworks years afterward.

Lee Miller (1907–1977) started her career as a fashion model in New York. With the encouragement of American artist and curator Edward Steichen, for whom she was a favorite subject, she moved behind the camera and moved to Paris in 1929 to seek out Man Ray as a teacher. Working in tandem and separately, Ray preferred to work in the studio while Miller mostly took to the streets. After she and Ray parted, she remained a photographer for two decades, including a seminal period as World War II war correspondent for Condé Nast. A first-hand witness to some of the worst atrocities of her time, she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder that later hampered her productivity.

This is the first exhibition that presents Man Ray and Lee Miller together on equal terms. Lee Miller is regarded here as an artist and potent Surrealist force in her own right rather than as a foil for Man Ray's work. Historically, Miller has been described as Ray's muse, but their love affair was in fact a key source of mutual and sustained inspiration, which pushed the art of their time in a new direction.