{"id":1027,"date":"2015-10-16T20:39:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T20:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/zelixart102\/?post_type=chapter&p=1027"},"modified":"2016-02-23T00:16:49","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T00:16:49","slug":"man-ray-the-gift","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-arthistory2\/chapter\/man-ray-the-gift\/","title":{"raw":"Man Ray, The Gift","rendered":"Man Ray, The Gift"},"content":{"raw":"

Man Ray and The Gift<\/i><\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1028\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"An Figure 1. Man Ray, Cadeau (Gift), flatiron with brass tacks, 1921 (remade in 1963)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe American artist Man Ray (born Emanuel Radnitzky in 1890; d. 1976) arrived in Paris in 1921. Within a year, the artist had his first solo show at a Parisian gallery. Among the works he exhibited was one unlisted sculpture: the object, which he called The Gift<\/i>, was an everyday flatiron with brass tacks glued in a column down its center. According to Man Ray in his autobiography Self-Portrait<\/i>, the object was made quickly, in a bout of inspiration, the day of the gallery opening.\r\n\r\nWhat do we make of Man Ray's relatively simple, yet subversive act of presenting a modified household appliance as a work of art? The flatiron\u2014intended to smooth wrinkles from fabric\u2014has been rendered useless with the addition of a row of brass tacks. We are perhaps expected to react the way the store owner supposedly did when Man Ray purchased these items, by exclaiming, \u201cBut you'll ruin the shirt if you put tacks there!\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1030\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]\"A Figure 2. A flatiron in use, 1930s, photograph by Samuel Kravitt, \"A Sister's Hands Ironing,\" Hancock Shaker Village, Massachusetts, c. 1931\u201336 (Library of Congress)[\/caption]\r\n

Dada, or the Nonsense of the Everyday<\/h2>\r\nBefore arriving in Paris, May Ray was associated with the New York Dada group, which included the artist Marcel Duchamp. As a loosely-affiliated group of like-minded artists, they were particularly interested in using humor and antagonism to question the definition of a work of art. Re-defining art was prevalent in Duchamp's Readymades, such as his Bicycle Wheel<\/i>, a sculpture made by conjoining a bicycle wheel and a stool, two utilitarian objects.\r\n

The Surrealist Object<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1032\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"A Figure 3. Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel<\/em>, 1913[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAlthough made in the spirit of Dada, Man Ray's Gift prefigured by several years a key artistic practice that would develop within the Surrealist movement: the \u201cSurrealist object,\u201d a type of three-dimensional art work that included found objects, modified objects, and sculpted objects.\r\n\r\nThe Surrealist object\u2014one of many literary and visual practices in the movement\u2014became prominent beginning in 1936, after its association with a series of extravagant international expositions organized in London and Paris. Surrealism had been first publicly announced in 1924, with the publication of Andr\u00e9 Breton's first \"Manifesto of Surrealism.\" Stridently activist, Surrealists sought to release society from cultural constraints and the need to conform to social norms, which they felt curtailed people's desires to live as they wished.\r\n

Function\/Dysfunction<\/h2>\r\nOf the many types of Surrealist objects that were produced, two important features are present in Man Ray's The Gift<\/i>. First, an everyday object has been changed so that its original function is denied. Indeed, the artist's relatively simple addition of tacks transforms a useful device into a destructive one.\r\n\r\nSecond, Man Ray's alteration gives a common object a symbolic function. The flatiron, associated with social expectations of propriety and middle-class values, becomes a subversive attack on social expectations. Even if Man Ray's tack-lined iron is no longer used for pressing clothes, the object resonates with ruinous, violent possibilities.\r\n

Denial and Destruction<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1033\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"An Figure 4. Wolfgang Paalen, Articulated Cloud<\/em>, umbrella in foam, 1938[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile denial and destruction are qualities are not intrinsic to all Surrealist art, there are striking examples, like The Gift<\/i>, that show Surrealists working with banal objects to question the viewer's expectations, and force us to re-evaluate the function of those objects in our lives.\r\n\r\nWolfgang Paalen's work from 1938, Articulated Cloud <\/i>(figure 4), an umbrella crafted from spongy foam, denies the object's intended function by causing water to be absorbed rather than repelled. It also makes the umbrella rather useless for anyone seeking shelter from rain.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1035\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"A Figure 5. Man Ray, Object to Be Destroyed<\/em> (Renamed Indestructible Object<\/em>), 1923 (1964 replica)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAnother object by Man Ray\u2014a metronome with a photograph of a woman's open eye clipped to it\u2014adds an ominous sense of relentless observation to an ordinary musician's timing instrument. Man Ray's title of the piece, Object to Be Destroyed<\/i>, seems mysterious at first.\r\n\r\nBut when we consider the psychological effects of such obsessive observation\u2014and think about what kind of impulses such regulations might evoke\u2014the artist's title becomes easier to understand.\r\n\r\nNo longer a simple time-keeping device, Object To Be Destroyed\u00a0<\/i>summons feelings of irritation over being watched, and powerlessness in the face of endless time. There is no means to stop the cycle, except to destroy the object itself.\r\n

Don't Touch the Art!<\/h2>\r\nThe violent implications of The Gift<\/i> and other Surrealist objects by Man Ray came to fruition in 1957 when Object to Be Destroyed\u00a0<\/i>was lost during a Man Ray retrospective. Varying stories exist as to the fate of the sculpture. In his autobiography, Man Ray recounts that a group of students visited the exhibition and caused a scene, during which one of them walked off with the sculpture, and it was never seen again. Numerous historians, however, state that during the exhibition one of the students took the title literally and smashed it with a hammer.\r\n\r\nWhether stolen or smashed, Object to Be Destroyed<\/i> no longer existed. This compelled Man Ray to remake the sculpture, but he pointedly changed the title to Indestructible Object<\/i>.","rendered":"

Man Ray and The Gift<\/i><\/h2>\n
\"An<\/p>\n

Figure 1. Man Ray, Cadeau (Gift), flatiron with brass tacks, 1921 (remade in 1963)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The American artist Man Ray (born Emanuel Radnitzky in 1890; d. 1976) arrived in Paris in 1921. Within a year, the artist had his first solo show at a Parisian gallery. Among the works he exhibited was one unlisted sculpture: the object, which he called The Gift<\/i>, was an everyday flatiron with brass tacks glued in a column down its center. According to Man Ray in his autobiography Self-Portrait<\/i>, the object was made quickly, in a bout of inspiration, the day of the gallery opening.<\/p>\n

What do we make of Man Ray’s relatively simple, yet subversive act of presenting a modified household appliance as a work of art? The flatiron\u2014intended to smooth wrinkles from fabric\u2014has been rendered useless with the addition of a row of brass tacks. We are perhaps expected to react the way the store owner supposedly did when Man Ray purchased these items, by exclaiming, \u201cBut you’ll ruin the shirt if you put tacks there!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Figure 2. A flatiron in use, 1930s, photograph by Samuel Kravitt, “A Sister’s Hands Ironing,” Hancock Shaker Village, Massachusetts, c. 1931\u201336 (Library of Congress)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dada, or the Nonsense of the Everyday<\/h2>\n

Before arriving in Paris, May Ray was associated with the New York Dada group, which included the artist Marcel Duchamp. As a loosely-affiliated group of like-minded artists, they were particularly interested in using humor and antagonism to question the definition of a work of art. Re-defining art was prevalent in Duchamp’s Readymades, such as his Bicycle Wheel<\/i>, a sculpture made by conjoining a bicycle wheel and a stool, two utilitarian objects.<\/p>\n

The Surrealist Object<\/h2>\n
\"A<\/p>\n

Figure 3. Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel<\/em>, 1913<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Although made in the spirit of Dada, Man Ray’s Gift prefigured by several years a key artistic practice that would develop within the Surrealist movement: the \u201cSurrealist object,\u201d a type of three-dimensional art work that included found objects, modified objects, and sculpted objects.<\/p>\n

The Surrealist object\u2014one of many literary and visual practices in the movement\u2014became prominent beginning in 1936, after its association with a series of extravagant international expositions organized in London and Paris. Surrealism had been first publicly announced in 1924, with the publication of Andr\u00e9 Breton’s first “Manifesto of Surrealism.” Stridently activist, Surrealists sought to release society from cultural constraints and the need to conform to social norms, which they felt curtailed people’s desires to live as they wished.<\/p>\n

Function\/Dysfunction<\/h2>\n

Of the many types of Surrealist objects that were produced, two important features are present in Man Ray’s The Gift<\/i>. First, an everyday object has been changed so that its original function is denied. Indeed, the artist’s relatively simple addition of tacks transforms a useful device into a destructive one.<\/p>\n

Second, Man Ray’s alteration gives a common object a symbolic function. The flatiron, associated with social expectations of propriety and middle-class values, becomes a subversive attack on social expectations. Even if Man Ray’s tack-lined iron is no longer used for pressing clothes, the object resonates with ruinous, violent possibilities.<\/p>\n

Denial and Destruction<\/h2>\n
\"An<\/p>\n

Figure 4. Wolfgang Paalen, Articulated Cloud<\/em>, umbrella in foam, 1938<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While denial and destruction are qualities are not intrinsic to all Surrealist art, there are striking examples, like The Gift<\/i>, that show Surrealists working with banal objects to question the viewer’s expectations, and force us to re-evaluate the function of those objects in our lives.<\/p>\n

Wolfgang Paalen’s work from 1938, Articulated Cloud <\/i>(figure 4), an umbrella crafted from spongy foam, denies the object’s intended function by causing water to be absorbed rather than repelled. It also makes the umbrella rather useless for anyone seeking shelter from rain.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Figure 5. Man Ray, Object to Be Destroyed<\/em> (Renamed Indestructible Object<\/em>), 1923 (1964 replica)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Another object by Man Ray\u2014a metronome with a photograph of a woman’s open eye clipped to it\u2014adds an ominous sense of relentless observation to an ordinary musician’s timing instrument. Man Ray’s title of the piece, Object to Be Destroyed<\/i>, seems mysterious at first.<\/p>\n

But when we consider the psychological effects of such obsessive observation\u2014and think about what kind of impulses such regulations might evoke\u2014the artist’s title becomes easier to understand.<\/p>\n

No longer a simple time-keeping device, Object To Be Destroyed\u00a0<\/i>summons feelings of irritation over being watched, and powerlessness in the face of endless time. There is no means to stop the cycle, except to destroy the object itself.<\/p>\n

Don’t Touch the Art!<\/h2>\n

The violent implications of The Gift<\/i> and other Surrealist objects by Man Ray came to fruition in 1957 when Object to Be Destroyed\u00a0<\/i>was lost during a Man Ray retrospective. Varying stories exist as to the fate of the sculpture. In his autobiography, Man Ray recounts that a group of students visited the exhibition and caused a scene, during which one of them walked off with the sculpture, and it was never seen again. Numerous historians, however, state that during the exhibition one of the students took the title literally and smashed it with a hammer.<\/p>\n

Whether stolen or smashed, Object to Be Destroyed<\/i> no longer existed. This compelled Man Ray to remake the sculpture, but he pointedly changed the title to Indestructible Object<\/i>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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