Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)
Mathematical Object

Mathematical Object

© Man Ray 2015 Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris

Mathematical Object
Mathematical Object
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Mathematical Object
Date1936, printed 1938
PlaceParis, France
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 9 1/8 × 11 3/4 in. (23.2 × 29.8 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/8 × 11 3/4 in. (23.2 × 29.8 cm)
Mount: 20 × 14 15/16 in. (50.8 × 37.9 cm)
Credit LineThe Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection
Object number91.866
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

The
laws of mathematics would seem an unlikely subject for a Surrealist, yet Man
Ray turned rigid codification into unfettered creativity. In his 1963
autobiography, Ray recalled that it was the Surrealist artist Max Ernst who
first brought to his attention a group of three-dimensional models illustrating
mathematical equations at the Institute Henri Poincaré in Paris.








Ray photographed the models between 1934 and
1936, and published a dozen of the resulting images in a 1936 issue of the
French artistic and literary journal Cahiers
d’art
, which was devoted to the Surrealist object.


ProvenancePurchased by the donor from Robet Miller Gallery
Exhibition History"Tradition and the Unpredictable: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Upper Jones and Wiess Galleries; January 16-March 27, 1994.

"Utopia/ Dystopia: Construction and Destruction in Photography and Collage," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 11 March - 10 June, 2012.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
verso bottom right in pencil " 36.1591 B "
verso in pencil below inscription " Ray "
verso bottom right a stamp " Man Ray-8 Rue Du Val-De-Grace Paris 5 France Danton 92-25 "
verso of mount bottom right a stamp " Photograph by Man Ray "

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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