William Wegman: Being Human

All artists have a muse. Movie directors perfect their craft working again and again with the same actor, while choreographers find their inspiration for some of their greatest works when creating for a particular dancer. Sometimes a muse is a silent partner, the object of an artist's intense and obsessive gaze. At other times the relationship is a kind of performance, a deeply collaborative act. For William Wegman, whose muses have been all of these things and more over the years, inspiration arrived in 1970 when his dog, a Weimaraner named Man Ray, appeared in front of his camera.