Le Retour à la Raison (1923), “The Return to the Reason”, is one of the iconic Dadaist works by Man Ray. The latter, though currently widely known as a photographer, had never let any formal views, or dogmatic approaches on sticking to one medium and one style (still, sadly, prevalent today among those who think they have the authority to dictate the art world rules to artists) get on the way of what he wants to explore. And how.
The work’s title, “The Return to the Reason”, reads as deeply ironic, if we look at Dadaist manifesto on one hand, and the visual language used in the work on the other.