Many Ray, Untitled (Solarized Nude) (The Primacy of Matter over Thought) (detail), 1932. Gelatin silver print. Graham Gund Photography Fund. © Man Ray 2015 Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris 2024.
Many Ray, Untitled (Solarized Nude) (The Primacy of Matter over Thought) (detail), 1932. Gelatin silver print. Graham Gund Photography Fund. © Man Ray 2015 Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris 2024.
Uncanny Desires: Staging the Surrealist Photograph
1:00 pm–2:30 pm
Tickets (Member / Nonmember)
In-Person $28 / $35
Livestream $16 / $20
As the medium that has traditionally defined what the “real” looks like, photography can be seen as both the foil and inspiration for the French Surrealist movement’s subjects and styles. Explore the ways photographers self-consciously introduced formal devices and staging to create images that invoked the dream state, the unconscious, and the irrational. Look closely at key works by Man Ray, André Kertész, Raoul Ubac, Dora Maar, and Hans Bellmer, among others, and learn more about the assimilation of Surrealist techniques into the realms of fashion and advertising in the 1930s.
Anne McCauley, David H. McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art, Emeritus, Department of Art and Archeology, Princeton University
Course Packages
Purchase a ticket package for the full six-session “Dalí In Context”. Please note that this option is not available after the date of the first session.
Assistive listening system
Wheelchair accessible
Ticket Information
To order tickets by phone, call 1-800-440-6975 ($6 processing fee applies); to order in person, visit any ϲʿֱֳ ticket desk.
Livestream Tickets
The livestream ticket gives access to a live feed of the event that can be watched remotely. You must be logged in to the account used to purchase the ticket in order to access the livestream on the . Please log in at least 5 minutes before the start of the event to test your connection.
Livestream ticket holders must watch the event live; there is no recording of the event available for viewing at a later time.