Gift
Man Ray. Gift. c. 1958 (replica of 1921 original). Painted flatiron and tacks, 6 1/8 x 3 5/8 x 4 1/2" (15.3 x 9 x 11.4 cm). James Thrall Soby Fund. © 2013 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Man Ray. Gift. c. 1958 (replica of 1921 original). Painted flatiron and tacks, 6 1/8 x 3 5/8 x 4 1/2" (15.3 x 9 x 11.4 cm). James Thrall Soby Fund. © 2013 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Man Ray’s first solo exhibition in Paris included paintings, aerographs, and collages, mostly brought from New York in his steamer trunk. Not listed in the catalogue was an object Man Ray constructed on the very afternoon his show opened: he glued a row of fourteen tacks to the bottom of an iron and added it to the works on display as a gift for the gallery owner, the poet Philippe Soupault. With its menacing blend of domesticity and sadomasochism, the object apparently attracted unusual attention—by the end of the day, Gift had vanished.