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Date: 1890-1976

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Description: Executed in 1969, this work is the unique original object.

signed Man Ray, titled and dated 69 on the inside of the box; signed Man Ray, titled and dated 1969 on the inside of the lid; inscribed Top and Haut twice on the outside of the box

plastic peaches, cotton wool and oil in a wooden box with a lid

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Dimensions: 33 by 22 by 10cm.

13 by 8 5/8 by 3 7/8 in.

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Provenance: PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JEAN-YVES MOCK SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE LONDON LIBRARY IN MEMORY OF RICHARD ROUD

Erica Brausen, London (acquired from the artist)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

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Exhibited: London, Hanover Gallery, Man Ray, 1969, illustration in colour of an artist's proof from the edition
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen and Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Man Ray, 1971-72, no. 211, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Humlebæk, Louisiana Museum, Man Ray, 1972, no. 196, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

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Published: Janus, Man Ray, Milan, 1973, no. 136, colour illustration of an example from the 1971 edition
Roland Penrose, Man Ray, London, 1975, illustrated in colour on the cover; pl. XIX, colour illustration of an example from the 1971 edition p. 184
Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray. The Rigour of Imagination, London, 1977, no. 323, illustrated in colour p. 184
Jean-Hubert Martin, Rosalind Krauss and Brigitte Hermann, Man Ray. Objets de mon affection. Sculptures et objets, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1983, no. 170, catalogued p. 157; colour illustration of the 1970 variant on the dust jacket
Janus, Man Ray. OEuvres 1909-1972, Milan, 1990, no. 83, colour illustration of an example from the 1971 edition
Man Ray (exhibition catalogue), Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1990-91, no. O-46, colour illustration of the 1970 variant p. 32
Man Ray et ses amis (exhibition catalogue), The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1991-92, no. 145, colour illustration of a later example p. 85

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Notes: The present work is the original version of Pêchage executed in 1969, and is one of Man Ray's most striking works made in the later years of his life. In 1970 Man Ray made a variant which served as the maquette for the edition of nine examples plus three artist's proofs, completed in 1972 by Il Fauno, Turin in collaboration with Lucien Treillard. In a manner reminiscent of Joseph Cornell, Man Ray used a wooden box to present a surrealist landscape, dominated by three giant peaches. By placing these unexpectedly oversized peaches instead of the trees, the artist transformed the fruit, usually associated with the traditional genre of still-life, into something inexplicable and unknown. The title Pêchage is a double pun: pêche-âge (peach age) and péché-âge (age of sin), hinting at the mythical connotation of the forbidden fruit, as well as a word play combining the word pêche with the word paysage, i.e. a landscape of peaches or a landscape of sin.

Discussing the symbolic and iconographic significance of the peach, Arturo Schwarz wrote: 'The symbolic value of the peach in the Far East takes us back to a familiar ambivalent pattern. The forbidden fruit is not only a symbol of the Fall, it is also a symbol of regeneration, resurrection and immortality' (A. Schwarz, op. cit., p. 200). He confronts the symbolism of the 'forbidden fruit' in the Hebrew-Christian tradition, and analyses its significance in Chinese esoteric writings, which sees the fruit as raising one's awareness that ultimately elevates man to the status of the immortal homo major. Schwarz therefore characterises Pêchage as glorifying desire, rather than announcing the age of sin.