Analysis: Man Ray/Laslo Maholy-Nagy

 Man Ray: Gun with alphabet stencils

Laslo Maholy-Nagy: Untitled photogram

Both these pieces, are very similar in the way they use similar techniques, but yet are also very different in the way that they use these techniques.

Firstly, tone.

Laslo uses dark deep tones, this is done by not under exposing the image, this gives the piece definition, depth and contrast between the objects in the image, for instance the main piece is the hand, which is quite faded in comparison to the spatula and the lines in the background.

Man Ray however uses less of a contrasting tone, his have a more "ghostly" effect, which gives them a mysterious persona. 

They both use positioning to create different themes and effects in their work, for example, Man Ray positions most of his work more to the centre, outlining the gun, to draw the eye closer to the main object in the middle, however Laslo has done the opposite, by utilising as much of the page as possible, for instance the hand is the main object being at the front, whereas the lines in the background take up the centre and sides and the spatula uses the whole middle of the work, this does the opposite to Man Ray's work, because it leaves a sense of confusion in the piece as the eyes are drawn to many different aspects of the piece.

Layering, Man Ray has not layered his piece as such, instead he uses depths in his work to create a type of "Layer", for instance, the gun is clear and bold, whereas the circles are darker and not so bold. Another thing he does is create a "shadowed" effect, this is done by changing the position of the piece after one exposer. 

Laslo on the other hand directly layers his objects to give each one a different shade, for example part of the hand is very bold and bright, whereas the rest is not.

Theme, Laslo, has a quite clear theme, of kitchen ware, with his "glove" and spatula and what looks like a grill, maybe representing work, hobbies or fun, it looks very much like a experimentation.

Whereas Man Ray does not have a direct theme, his is more hidden, because his alphabet stencils are meant to represent bullets. Maybe to represent that a picture says a thousand words or maybe that we should use words before conflicts or warfare. This may be the case as he played a key role in the Dada and Surrealist movements. 

Overall these two artists have used different aspects of techniques to create unique and contrasting pieces in comparison to each other.