“Alias Man Ray” makes you wonder how much control artists are allowed to exert over their biographies. If you believe that the shift to Man Ray from Emmanuel Radnitzky is itself a work of art, like Duchamp’s alter ego Rrose Sélavy, this show begins to look like an act of sabotage.

Yet we benefit from it. This show doesn’t challenge the long-held view that photography was Man Ray’s most enduring contribution to modernism. But it does change our picture of the artist. Duchamp was supposed to be the elusive one, but here it is Man Ray who slips among cities and mediums and personas — and, finally, out of Duchamp’s shadow.

“Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention” continues through March 14 at the Jewish Museum (1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City); (212) 423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org.