Artwork Page for Gift

Details / Information for Gift

Gift

1921, recreated 1963

Man Ray

(American, 1890–1976)
Culture
France
Medium
Hand iron, tacks, paint, wood base
Measurements
Overall: 15.3 x 9 x 11.4 cm (6 x 3 9/16 x 4 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Delia E. Holden Fund 2011.198
Copyright
© 2013 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
225 German Expressionism & Surrealism
Print
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Did You Know?

Man Ray once said, "I never knew what I was doing until I was done."

Description

By gluing a row of tacks to the face of a hand iron, Man Ray transformed a common household item into an illogical object with menacing undertones. He first made this work in 1921, displaying it in an exhibition and intending to give it away in a raffle. However, it disappeared during the show’s opening, likely stolen by the gallery owner who admired it. Decades later in his career, the artist recreated Gift multiple times. In 1963, he made this version, which he kept in his personal collection.
A sculpture made from a red-brown hand iron features a column of fourteen copper-colored tacks protruding from the center of the iron's smooth base. The flat iron rests, points of the tacks facing out as spikes, on a circular, light brown, wood base.

Gift

1921, recreated 1963

Man Ray

(American, 1890–1976)
France

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