Les objets

Raoul Ubac Belgian

Not on view

In this work, Ubac removes everyday objects—an egg, knife, coin, and cord—from their usual contexts, stripping them of their meaning as items of consumption, utility, or exchange, and assembles them according to his own flexible logic. When Ubac exhibited this photograph with the knife pointing up, he subtitled it “Night Landscape,” but when he displayed the photograph inverted, with the knife pointed down, he called it “Alphabetical Order.” By populating his image with common items surrounded by an eerie glow and giving it changeable subtitles, Ubac demonstrates the associative dream logic of Surrealism.

Les objets, Raoul Ubac (Belgian, Malmèdy 1910–1985 Dieudonné), Gelatin silver print

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.