The Gift (sculpture)
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The Gift (Le Cadeau in French) is an early readymade by Man Ray (with the assistance of Erik Satie), consisting of an clothes iron with fourteen thumb tacks glued to its sole, made in 1921 in Vienna.
Much like Oppenheim's Object, Gift is a conjunction of two alien objects. One represents domesticity and possibly femininity; the other represents carpentry and hence masculinity. The sheer failure of Gift as something practical makes the object a poor gift - ironic naming on Ray's part.
In 1974, Ray made 5,000 replicas of Gift as a limited edition.
Man Ray believed in turning useful to useless i.e. the iron can no longer iron because of the thumb tacks.
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