Cello fingerboard and scroll with horsehair
Not on view
Like many Surrealist objects, Emak Bakia materialized from a combination of chance discovery and artistic invention. Man Ray found the elegant amputated neck of a double bass at a flea market and paired it with the long, flowing hair of a horse. The light gray horsehair feminizes the instrument's curvaceous forms and is the material typically used to make its bow. Man Ray's enigmatic Basque title for the work, which translates as "leave me alone," is adapted from his 1926 film of the same name. As the title underscores, this object is ultimately an instrument of frustration, from which no music will ever flow.
The Erotic Object: Surrealist Sculpture from the Collection, June 24, 2009–January 4, 2010.
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Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)
American, 1890–1976 190 works onlineSo enthused Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky) in 1922, shortly after his first experiments with camera-less photography. He remains well known for these images, commonly called photograms but which he dubbed “rayographs” in a punning combination of his own name and the word “photograph.
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