LOT DETAILS

Materials:

wood box assemblage with glass, metal brackets, felt, metal washboard, tube, wire, colored wood, gouache on black paper, paper stamp and steel wool

Measurements:

48.11 in. (122.20 cm.) (height) by 11.97 in. (30.40 cm.) (width) by 2.32 in. (5.90 cm.) (width)

Edition:

unique

Markings:

titled 'Catherine Barometer' (lower center); signed, titled again and dated 'Man Ray Catherine Barometer 1921' (on the reverse)

Exhibited:

Paris, Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, Société des Artistes Indépendants: 33e Exposition, January-February 1922. Paris, Galerie Surréaliste, Tableaux de Man Ray et objets des Iles, March-April 1926, no. 13. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Man Ray, October-December 1966, p. 63, no. 147. Paris, Musée national d'art moderne and Humlebaek, The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Man Ray, January-April 1972, pp. 112 and 144, no. 141 (with incorrect dimensions). The New York Cultural Center, Man Ray: Inventor, Painter, Poet, December 1974-March 1975, no. 122 (illustrated).

Literature:

A. Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, New York, 1977, pp. 57-58, 161-162 and 367 (illustrated in color, p. 144, fig. 244; dated 1921). P. Sers, ed., Man Ray: Objets de mon affection, Paris, 1983, pp. 140-141 (illustrated, p. 33, fig. 17; with incorrect dimensions). Man Ray, Self Portrait, Boston, 1988, pp. 94 and 100. M. Foresta, S.C. Foster, B. Klüver, J. Martin, F.M. Naumann, S.S. Phillips, R. Shattuck and E.H. Turner, Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray, exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., 1988, pp. 94, 107 and 143 (illustrated, p. 143, fig. 112). R. Penrose, Man Ray, London, 1989, p. 72. F.M. Naumann, New York Dada: 1915-1923, New York, 1994, pp. 90-91 (illustrated, p. 90). F.M. Naumann and B. Venn, Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1996, pp. 225 and 241. C.A. Jones, "The Sex of the Machine" in C.A Jones and P. Galison, eds., Picturing Science: Producing Art, New York, 1998, pp. 151-152. N. Sawelson-Gorse, ed., Women in Dada: Essays on Sex, Gender and Identity, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1998, pp. 148-149, 168, 393 and 570 (illustrated, p. 149, fig. 6.1).

Provenance:

William N. Copley, New York (acquired from the artist, 1948); sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, 5 November 1979, lot 30. Galerie Tarica, Paris (acquired at the above sale). Acquired from the above by the family of the present owners, circa 1980.