Indestructible object
(1965)
Medium
metronome and black-and-white photograph
Measurements
(25.0 × 13.5 × 13.5 cm)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2024
© Man Ray Trust. ADAGP/Copyright Agency
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Man Ray initially created this sculpture in 1923, titled Object to be destroyed. A generic photograph of an eye was attached to a metronome, intended to watch him work as it ticked back and forth. In 1932, when his model, collaborator and muse Lee Miller left Paris, he replaced the photograph with an image of one of her eyes. Man Ray later recalled: ‘I really intended to destroy it one day, but before witnesses or an audience.’ In 1957, while on display in Paris, a group of radical students destroyed the work. He later re-editioned it, renaming the work Indestructible object.