Today’s Artwork of the Week is one of my favorite photographs. It’s so simple and so memorable.
By cropping the face so close and emphasizing the eyes looking upward, surrealist artist, Man Ray, makes us think about who this is, where she is looking, and why she is crying. These would be great places to start when discussing this artwork with your students.
- What’s happening here?
- Where might she be looking?
- Why is she crying?
- What choices did the artist make to emphasize this emotion?
- Why did the artist choose to crop her face this way?
- This is not a real woman, but a mannequin with glass tears. How might that change or add to the meaning of the artwork?
To learn more about Man Ray and his reasons for making Tears, check out this PDF resource from The J. Paul Getty Museum. It includes information about this artwork and the artist as well as some other questions for teaching. I hate linking to a pdf like that, but museum websites make it so hard to not do that! The pdf is a part of their Exploring Photographs curriculum.
