Object to Be Destroyed

Inscription: Signed, dated, and inscribed (bottom, in pen): for Arnold Crane / Man Ray / Paris 1969

the artist (in 1969 to Crane); Arnold Crane, Chicago (1969–2011; sold in 2011 to Bluff); Bluff Collection (from 2011)

This Quarter 5 (September 1932), ill. p. 55 (drawing of this work, called "Object of Destruction"), transcribes the inscrption on the verso of the drawing.

Michel Seuphor. "L'Internationale Dada." L'Oeil no. 24 (Christmas 1956), ill. p. 70, calls it "Métronome".

Marcel Jean. The History of Surrealist Painting. 2nd ed. (French ed., 1959). New York, 1960, p. 273, ill. p. 251 (1932 drawing "Object for Destruction").

William C. Seitz. The Art of Assemblage. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1961, ill. p. 49 ("Indestructible Object," 1958 version, collection Mr. and Mrs. Morton G. Neumann, Chicago), indicates that it is a [renamed] replica of the earlier "Object to be Destroyed".

Man Ray. Self Portrait. Boston, 1963, pp. 389, 391–92, ill. p. 390 (original work, destroyed 1957).

Brian O'Doherty. "Light on an Individual: Man Ray." New York Times (May 5, 1963), p. X15.

Man Ray in Man Ray. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Lytton Gallery. [Los Angeles], 1966, p. 28, ill. p. 122 ("Indestructible Object," 1958 version, collection Mr. and Mrs. Morton G. Neumann, Chicago).

K. G. Pontus Hultén. The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1968, pp. 153, 210 n. 135, ill. (1932 drawing and "Indestructible Object," 1958 version, collection Mr. and Mrs. Morton G. Neumann, Chicago), [reprints Ref. Man Ray 1963].

Arturo Schwarz, ed. Man Ray: 60 anni di libertà. Exh. cat., Galleria Schwarz. Milan, 1971, p. 150, no. 61, ill. p. 55 ("Indestructible Object," 1933/1963 version).

Roland Penrose. Man Ray. Boston, 1975, pp. 108–9, 186, 205, fig. 64 ("Indestructible Object," 1923/58 version, collection of the artist).

Mario Amaya and Lee Miller Penrose. "My Man Ray: Interview with Lee Miller Penrose." Art in America 63 (May–June 1975), pp. 56–57, ill. ("Indestructible Object," 1958 version, collection Luciano Anselmino, Turin).

Arturo Schwarz. Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination. New York, 1977, pp. 69, 136, 155, 194, 205, 369–70, fig. 329 ("Indestructible Object," 1923/33/63 version, Vera and Arturo Schwarz Collection, Milan), dates the original both 1922 and 1922–23.

Dawn Ades. Dada and Surrealism Reviewed. Exh. cat., Hayward Gallery. [London], 1978, p. 178, no. 8.23, ill. ("Indestructible Object," 1923/59 version, private collection).

Jeanne Siegel. "The Image of the Eye in Surrealist Art and its Psychoanalytic Sources, Part One: The Mythic Eye." Arts Magazine 56 (February 1982), p. 104, ill. p. 103 (1932 drawing).

Jean-Hubert Martin. Man Ray: Objets de mon affection. Paris, 1983, pp. 6, 142–43, no. 31, ill. pp. 47, 145 ("Indestructible Object" version), discusses the different versions of this work.

Brigitte Hermann. "Objets de mon affection." Man Ray: Objets de mon affection. Paris, 1983, p. 8.

Rosalind Krauss. "Objets de Réflexion Critique." Man Ray: Objets de mon affection. Paris, 1983, p. 10, dates it 1922–23.

Merry Foresta in Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray. Exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. New York, 1988, pp. 9, 45, 47, fig. 1 ("Perpetual Motif," 1972 version), ill. title page.

Sandra S. Phillips in Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray. Exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. New York, 1988, pp. 184, 199, 212, 226.

Stephen C. Foster in Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray. Exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. New York, 1988, pp. 248, 250, 252–53, 255, fig. 212 (original).

Neil Baldwin. Man Ray: American Artist. New York, 1988, pp. 136, 323, ill. p. 164 (1932 version).

Barbara Zabel. "Man Ray and the Machine." Smithsonian Studies in American Art 3, no. 4 (Autumn 1989), pp. 78–79.

Michel Sanouillet in Man Ray: La Photographie à l'envers. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 1998, p. 216, calls it "Objet à détruire".

Katherine Ware. "'Chemist of Mysteries': The Life and Photographic Work of Man Ray." Man Ray: 1890–1976. Ed. Manfred Heiting. Cologne, 2000, p. 24, discusses the 1932 drawing.

Janine Mileaf. "Between You and Me: Man Ray's 'Object to Be Destroyed'." Art Journal 63, no. 1 (Spring 2004), pp. 5–7, 9, 11, 14–16, 20, 22–23, ill. pp. 4 ("Indestructible Object," 1965 version, Smithsonian American Art Museum), 6 (reproduces Ref. This Quarter 1932).

Janine Mileaf and Matthew S. Witkovsky in Leah Dickerman. Dada. Exh. cat., Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris. Washington, D.C., 2005, pp. 360–61, colorpl. 332 ("Indestructible Object," 1964 version, Museum of Modern Art, New York collection).

George Baker. The Artwork Caught by the Tail: Francis Picabia and Dada in Paris. Cambridge, Mass., 2007, pp. 184, 187, 190, 428–29 n. 26, ill. p. 186 (1923/1965 edition; Moderna Museet, Stockholm collection).

Katie Croll-Knight in Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia. Ed. Jennifer Mundy. Exh. cat., Tate Modern. London, 2008, pp. 201, 212, calls it "Object of Destruction".

Jean-Hubert Martin in Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia. Ed. Jennifer Mundy. Exh. cat., Tate Modern. London, 2008, p. 122.

Francis M. Naumann in Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia. Ed. Jennifer Mundy. Exh. cat., Tate Modern. London, 2008, pp. 68, 236, fig. 78 (color; "Indestructible Object," 1963 version, collection Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York).

Mason Klein in Mason Klein. Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum, New York. New Haven, 2009, pp. 71, 212 n. 13, p. 217 n. 90, figs. 75 (color; "Indestructible Object," 1923/65 version, Montclair Art Museum collection), 76 (reproduces Ref. This Quarter 1932).

George Baker in Mason Klein. Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum, New York. New Haven, 2009, p. 158.

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan in Phillip Prodger. Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism. Exh. cat., Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. London, 2011, pp. 17–18.

Phillip Prodger in Phillip Prodger. Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism. Exh. cat., Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. London, 2011, pp. 42–43, 50, 52, ill. p. 107 (color; "Indestructible Object," 1959 version, Penrose Collection, Sussex, England).

Antony Penrose in Phillip Prodger. Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism. Exh. cat., Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. London, 2011, p. 58.

Annelie Tuveros in Man Ray. Ed. Karolina Peterson et al. Exh. cat., Mjellby Konstmuseum. Halmstad, 2013, pp. 56, 178, 217, ill. p. 57 (color; "Indestructible Object," 1928/1959 version, Penrose Collection).

Sidsel Maria Søndergaard in Man Ray. Ed. Karolina Peterson et al. Exh. cat., Mjellby Konstmuseum. Halmstad, 2013, pp. 131, 188, 192 n. 45.

Rune Gade in Man Ray. Ed. Karolina Peterson et al. Exh. cat., Mjellby Konstmuseum. Halmstad, 2013, pp. 146–47, 149, 199–201, calls it "Object of Destruction"; discusses the work's evolution to "Indestructible Object" after the original was destroyed in 1957.

Jan Svenungsson in Man Ray. Ed. Karolina Peterson et al. Exh. cat., Mjellby Konstmuseum. Halmstad, 2013, pp. 168, 212, discusses the titles associated with different versions of this work.

Bill Brown. Other Things. Chicago, 2015, pp. 46, 79–82, 117, 119–24, 169, 235, 329 n. 127, figs. 3.1 (1932 edition), 3.14 (reproduces Ref. This Quarter 1932).

Arthur Lubow. Man Ray: The Artist and His Shadows. New Haven, 2021, pp. 100, 102, 140–41.

Beth Gates Warren and Marie Difilippantonio. Julien Levy: The Man, His Gallery, His Legacy. [Newtown, Conn.], 2023, vol. 2, pp. 481–83, 493, 497 n. 121, p. 498 n. 179.

David Campany in Man Ray: Other Objects. Ed. Yuval Etgar. Exh. cat., Luxembourg + Co., New York. Cologne, 2023, pp. 21–26, figs. 1–9 (various versions), discusses the original 1923 work and its subsequent versions.

Stephen C. Pinson in Stephanie D'Alessandro and Stephen C. Pinson. Man Ray: When Objects Dream. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2025, pp. 241, 305, colorpl. 160.

Stephanie D'Alessandro and Stephen C. Pinson. Man Ray: When Objects Dream. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2025, p. 17.