Man Ray
1955-1965 (executed)
Matchbox (Boîte d'allumettes).

Card stock, wood and paper tape matchbox with photograph (gelatin silver prints, 1932, printed later) on upper cover and stamp and advertisement collage and two striking surfaces on the underside and sides, containing felt samples in various colors.
8 x 5.5 x 3.5 cm (3 x 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 in.)
 
Swann Galleries - New York
The Virginia Zabriskie Collection, Sep 21, 2021, Sale 2579, Lot: 123
 
Andrew Strauss and Timothy Baum of the Man Ray Expertise Committee have confirmed the authenticity of this work and that it will be included in the Catalogue of Objects & Sculptures of Man Ray, currently in preparation. Man Ray Expertise Committee reference: 00186-O-2021
 
Provenance: Acquired from Juliet Man Ray, the artist's widow, Paris.
 
Man Ray made a number of matchboxes mounted with photographs of many of his well-known images (of which 25 are known). Some were used by the artist to store small items in his rue Férou studio, others were offered as gifts to visitors to the studio when they asked for a light for their cigarette. This matchbox is adorned with a portrait of Jacqueline Goddard, taken in 1932, and printed later.
 
There is a small collection of 9 of Man Ray's Boîtes d'allumettes now in the Centre Pompidou, Paris, accessioned in 1994.
 
LL/113921