MAN RAY (1890–1976)

Man Ray draws his inspiration for the creation of this object from Chants de Maldoror, an 1868-69 text by Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse). His object, a sewing machine wrapped and tied is a direct result of the reading of this passage, 'lovely as the fortuitous encounter on a dissection table of a sewing machine and an umbrella.' Ducasse's writing was later embraced by André Breton as a classic Surrealist text. This work is stamped with Manford stamp M26, a later Paris stamp used between1951-1976, as noted in Steven Manford’s book, Behind the photo: the stamps of Man Ray, Paris, Collection Clémentine, 2009.