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MAN RAY (American, 1890-1976) MATHEMATICAL OBJECT (PÉRSPECTIVE D'UN CUBE, D'UNE SPHÈRE, D'UN CÔNE ET

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
MAN RAY (American, 1890-1976) MATHEMATICAL OBJECT (PÉRSPECTIVE D'UN CUBE, D'UNE SPHÈRE, D'UN CÔNE ET
MAN RAY (American, 1890-1976) MATHEMATICAL OBJECT (PÉRSPECTIVE D'UN CUBE, D'UNE SPHÈRE, D'UN CÔNE ET D'UNE CYLINDRE) "CAHIERS D'ART" stamp on verso artist's stamp on verso titled "Pérspective d'un cube, d'une sphère, d'un cône et d'une cylindre" in pencil on verso vintage gelatin silver print 113/4 x 91/8 in. (29.8 x 23.2 cm) 1936 ESTIMATE: $10,000-15,000 PROVENANCE Robert Miller Gallery, NEW YORK Private Collection, NEW YORK EXHIBITED NEW YORK, Robert Miller Gallery, Man Ray, Mathematical Objects, 1986 LITERATURE Christian Zervos, "Mathématiques et art abstrait," CAHIERS D'ART, no.1-2, May 1936, pp. 4-20 (illustrated on p. 7) André Breton, "Crise de l'objet," CAHIERS D'ART, no. 1-2, May 1936, pp. 21-26 Man Ray, SELF-PORTRAIT, Boston, 1963, 1988 Merry A. Foresta, PERPETUAL MOTIF: THE ART OF MAN RAY, Washington D.C., 1988, pl. 197 (illustrated) Isabelle Fortuné, "Man Ray et les objets mathématiques," ÉTUDES PHOTOGRAPHIQUES, no. 6, May 1999, pp. 100-117 This is the actual print from a group of twelve photographs by Man Ray of mathematical objects that were reproduced in a special issue of the surrealist journal CAHIERS D'ART. Man Ray, in company with Max Ernst, discovered in the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris a collection of these neglected pedagogic objects constructed in the 1870s of plaster, wood and wire intended as instructional aids. Man Ray made approximately 30 photographs of these objects. Accompanying his photographs in CAHIERS D'ART is an important article by André Breton, "Crise de l'objet," who wrote that these objects "were brought to us by the extra-lucid hands of Man Ray" (p. 26). Not fond of contemporary abstract art, Breton expressed his delight that these objects were created in an attempt to make the abstract concrete rather than the other way around. In place of Man Ray's less poetic title for this particular photo, Breton suggested the title "Poursuivie par son cerceau." The influence of these objects in the surrealist milieu was widespread and immediate. Max Ernst incorporated graphic illlustrations of mathematical objects in his collages. Years later, in Hollywood, when Man Ray was able to devote more of his time to painting, he made a series of works based on his photographs of these objects. He titled the series, "Shakespearean Equations," and gave each canvas the title of a different play by Shakespeare. This photograph inspired the 1948 painting, A COMEDY OF ERRORS.