MAN RAY | Le Manche dans la manche

Estate of the Artist
Juliet Man Ray (by descent from the above; sale: Sotheby's, London, Property from The Man Ray Trust, 22nd March, 1995, lot 36)
Private Collection, Germany (purchased at the above sale)
Private Collection, London (sale: Christie's, London, 7th February 2001, lot 220)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Man Ray, Oggetti d'affezione, Turin, 1970, no. 116, illustration of another version n.p.
Janus, Man Ray, Milan, 1973, no. 24, illustration of another version n.p.
Carmine Benincasa & Roberto Maria Siena, Man Ray, Les Heures heureuses, Rome, 1975, p. 66
Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, New York, 1977, no. 282, illustration of another version p. 152
Jean-Hubert Martin, Rosalind Krauss & Brigitte Hermann (eds.), Man Ray: Objets de mon affection, sculptures et objets, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1983, no. 161, illustration of another version p. 129
Gerry Y. Dryansky, 'Historic Houses: the Man Ray Studio', in Architectural Digest, November 1982, colour illustration of another version p. 182
Neil Baldwin, Man Ray American Artist, New York, 1988, p. 360 and frontispiece, illustration of another version in photographs of the artist's studio in the rue Férou
C. Barnett, 'Man Ray's Juliet' in Art & Antiques, New York, October 1988, pp. 100 and colour illustration of another version p. 104
Man Ray et ses amis (exhibition catalogue), Tokyo, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, 1991-92, no. 29, colour illustration of another version p. 35

Wood and metal hammer encased within a plastic resin bottle on a plastic base; all the elements are intact and appear structurally sound.There are some minor nicks to the black plastic base and to the resin surface, consistent with age and handling. There is a light coating of rust in places to the head of the hammer and some of the writing on the adhesive tape affixed to the hammer is somewhat faded. The surface of the bottle could benefit from a light clean. This work is in overall very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

INTRODUCTION TO GROUP ‘[readymade objects] are manufactured objects raised to the dignity of works of art through the choice of the artist’ André Breton quoted in Margareet Iversen, ‘Ready Made, Found Object, Photograph’, in Art Journal, College Art Association, 2004, vol. 63. No. 2, p. 44

When he arrived in Paris in 1921 Man Ray was already a celebrity of the New York art scene. From 1915 his close friendship with Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia began the nascent Dada and Surrealist movements. The group were particularly interested in using humour and antagonism to question the definition of a work of art. Within this, Man Ray using his wondrous multiplicity of talents as a painter, film maker, photographer and maker-of-objects, Man Ray furthered the cause of the avant garde. Indeed within the first year of his arrival in Europe composers and film makers at the forefront of Modernism were describing their creations as having a semblance of the ‘Man Ray effect’ (Henry Mcbride, ‘Farwell to art’s greatness’ (exhibition review), New York, 1936). This immediate impact was by no means short lived, through his unique photography and invention of rayogrpahy, Man Ray was to become one of the most innovative artists of the 20^th century whose theory on art is still extolled in the works of Tracy Emin, Richard Prince and Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Throughout his career Man Ray returned again and again to certain works. No more so than with his objects which evolved in meaning throughout the artist’s lifetime. Duchamp’s Readymade works of art supplied the theoretical basis for Man Ray to explore his own interpretation of found objects, including the appropriation of functional objects into art. Man Ray’s first foray into this world Cadeau, 1921 is still considered one of the most famous icons of the Surrealist movement. On the morning of his first solo exhibition in Paris Man Ray was drinking with his friend, the composer Erik Satie, when he spotted a local hardware store. Possibly reminiscing on Duchamp’s Urinal, Man Ray entered the shop and purchased a flat iron and a packet of sharp tacks. By gluing the tacks to the base of the iron the artist rendered both items useless for their intended function and transformed an ordinary domestic item into an unnameable object with sadistic and ruinous connotations.

The Readymade’s reductio ab absurdum forces the viewer to question the theories of art. Need an object’s aesthetic qualities matter? Does the placement of an object within a gallery change its conceptual identity? Does a replica have the same value as the original work? Throughout his career Man Ray was fascinated by the relationship between the unique object and its replica, a concern that was crucial to his later work as a photographer. As far as his objects and Ready-mades were concerned Man Ray made replicas whenever necessary, proposing that ‘I have no compunction about this – an important book or musical score is not destroyed by burning it. Only a collector who was acquiring the object for speculative reasons would hesitate to add it to his collection.’ (Man Ray, Self Portrait, 1988, p. 84)