MAN RAY (1890–1976)

Électricité is Man Ray's highly renowned portfolio of ten exquisite photogravures of the artist's 'rayograph' images, printed in 1931 as a commission for the French power company, La Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution d'Electricité. The private company commissioned this work in an edition of 500 to be distributed to their executives and top customers as part of an effort to promote the use of electricity in French households. Ever on the forefront of innovation, the project provided Man Ray with the opportunity to beautifully incorporate several modes of modernity: Technologically, he used various avant-garde photographic methods such as cameraless images, which he called 'rayographs', as well as solarization and collage. Graphically, he sought to represent interactions between invisible electric currents and everyday domestic objects and scenes -- a notably modern concept in a culture that was still reliant primarily on gas, wood and coal for daily household energy.