Man Ray (American, 1890-1976).

Number: 2213 / 5000

(other numbers available upon request)

Includes box and styrofoam insert.

Title 

MAN RAY (1890-1976) 'Cadeau' (c. 1972)

Dimensions

Height: 6.5 inches / 16.51 cm

Width: 4 inches / 10.16 cm

Depth: 3.75 inches / 9.53 cm

Signature

Signed, titled and numbered in white ink on the handle

Condition Report

Rust patina to iron.

Art Period

Post-War

Movement/Style

Surrealism

Product details

Artists 

MAN RAY (1890-1976)

An iconic and historic work of art, Man Ray's Le Cadeau ("The Gift"), is an early ready-made created by the artist in 1921 during his Dada period. Typical of the perverse, subversive inclinations of the Dada movement, the piece was so popular - such a brilliant example of the surreal, useless object - that Man Ray revisited it throughout his career, finally creating a full edition in 1974, shortly before his death. Created of cast iron, the sculpture is stamped with the artist’s signature and the edition number on its handle, measures 6 ½ x 4 x 3 ½ in (16.5 x10.2 x 8.9 cm) and is from the edition of 5000.

About Man Ray

Man Ray was a key figure of Dada and Surrealism, one of the few Americans associated with either movement. Born Emmanuel Radnitzky, the artist adopted his pseudonym in 1909 and—while he also worked across painting, sculpture, video, and printmaking—became renowned for his striking, sensual black-and-white photographs. A number of his portraits—such as Larmes (Tears) (ca. 1932), which features a woman “crying” glass bead tears, and his pictures of Kiki de Montparnasse—are icons of 20th-century art. Man Ray also embraced technical experimentation; he used solarization and made Rayographs (an eponym for his photograms) as he pushed the boundaries of avant-garde photography. At auction, his work has sold for seven figures, and his paintings have fetched particularly high prices. Man Ray is represented in the collections of such institutions as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.