Objets de Mon Affection

The “objects” of American artist Man Ray’s affection were small, limited-edition sculptures. Although influenced by French artist Marcel Duchamp, Ray eschewed the Duchampian term readymade, preferring a lyrical title based on a popular song, “The object of my affection is to change your complexion from white to rosy red…” (Rosalind Krauss in Man Ray: Objects of My Affection, 1985).

This small 1968 tome, wrapped in metallic gold cardback, is the catalog for an exhibition of the same name at Galerie Europe in Paris. At the exhibition, Parisian gallery owner Marcel Zerbib released multiples of Ray’s objects, which were conceived between 1917 and 1967 but had not yet been unveiled to the general public.

Joseph H. Hirshhorn, founding donor of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, was an avid collector and close friend of Man Ray. This copy of the catalog includes a pricelist tipped into the back cover, a handwritten acquisition note: "gift JHH," and a bookplate indicating that the catalog was a gift from Mr. & Mrs. Joseph H. Hirshhorn to the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Library. Although the catalog is not annotated, we know that Hirshhorn bought at least eleven of the fourteen works offered in the sale.