Indestructible Object (Object to be Destroyed)

Indestructible Object (Object to be Destroyed)
1923 Theme: Dadaïsts Surrealists/Remade 1933, editioned replica 1965
Wooden Metronome with eye
215 x 110 x 115 mm (unconfirmed) 


Man Ray's "Indestructible Object/Object to be Destroyed" pictured above was made in 1923, after he and Lee Miller split. He attached a photograph of Lee's eye to the metronome and described the constant back and fourth motion of the eye to be a symbol of her unending presence. He ended up destroying the original sculpture (Object to be Destroyed) and made 100 other versions titled Indestructible Object. He explained that the name change was due to the fact that it would be very difficult to destroy all one hundred of them.