Man Ray

Roland Penrose, Man Ray, London, 1975, p. 110, no. 64, illustration of the 1958 replica
Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray. The Rigour of Imagination, London, 1977, p. 218, no. 331, illustration of the 1932 drawing; p. 218, nos. 329 & 332, illustrations of examples from the 1963 and 1971 editions
Jean-Hubert Martin, Rosalind Krauss and Brigitte Hermann, Man Ray. Objects de mon affection. Sculptures et objets, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1983, pp. 142-43, no. 31, edition catalogued; p. 46, no. 31, illustration of Object to be Destroyed, 1932
Man Ray, Self Portrait, Boston and London, 1988, p. 97, illustration of an example from the 1958 edition

Man Ray's celebrated object of a metronome with a photographic eye affixed to its swinging arm was first created in 1923 and titled Object to be Destroyed.  In 1932, the artist made an ink drawing of the object with the following inscription on the reverse:  "Cut out the eye from the photograph of one who has been loved but is seen no more.  Attach the eye to the pendulum of a metronome and regulate the weight to suit the tempo desired.  Keep going to the limit of endurance.  With a hammer well aimed, try  to destroy the whole at a single blow".  In the same year, Man Ray exchanged the eye on the metronome for a photograph of Lee Miller's eye.  The bitter instructions on the drawing were motivated by the recent ending of Man Ray's relationship with Lee Miller.

A replica of the object was made in the 1930s and appeared in several Surrealist exhibitions, but by the time Man Ray left Paris in 1940 for the United States, the object was lost.  A new replica titled Last Object was made for the artist's 1945 exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York.

Man Ray's long-standing invitation to destroy the object was finally carried out by students demonstrating against Dada and Surrealism at the Exposition Dada held at the Galerie de l'Institut, Paris in 1957. The representative of the insurance company covering the exhibition agreed to pay the full insurance value. "However he voiced his suspicion that I might, with his money, buy a whole stock of metronomes. That was my intention, I replied; however, I assured him of one thing - I'd change the title" (Man Ray, Self Portrait, Boston, 1963, pp. 306-7 in the 1988 edition). Consequently, Man Ray made two further replicas in 1958 (Private Collection, New York) and in 1959 (the present work).

The metronome object became an icon of Man Ray's work and responding to demand, further limited editions were authorised by the artist in the 1960s and 70s, under the new humourous titles of Indestructible Object and Perpetual Motif.