MAN RAY (1890-1976) | Christie's

MAN RAY (1890-1976)

Details

MAN RAY (1890-1976)

New York 1917/66

signed, titled, dated and lettered Man Ray New York 1917 E.A.-- stamped twice with initials MR and with hallmark 925 and crescent--silver on a silver base
Height (including base): 16¼ in. (41.3 cm.)

Original wood version executed in 1917; this silver version cast in 1966 in an edition of three artist's proofs in conjunction with a bronze edition of nine casts

Provenance

Marcel Zerbib, Paris (1966)

Literature

A. Schwarz, Man Ray, The Rigour of Imagination, New York, 1977, p. 367, no. 249 (bronze version illustrated, p. 145)
M.A. Foresta and J. Man Ray, Self-Portrait, Man Ray, New York, 1988, p. 81 (wood version illustrated)

Lot Essay

"New York (1917) is of special interest as the first work in which Man Ray used found objects in sculpture. The Surrealists were to exploit this method more than a decade later. There were a number of wooden strips of various lengths lying around Man Ray's New York studio. All he did was to fasten several strips together with a carpenter's clamp to produce a bold impression of a sky-scraper. (Sky-scrapers were still a novelty in New York - the Woolworth building had been completed only in 1912.)" (A. Schwarz, op.cit., p. 154)