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1931

Lingerie

Man Ray

American, 1890 - 1976

In 1931 a French electric company, the Compagnie parisienne de distribution d’electricité (CPDE), commissioned Man Ray to produce a portfolio of photogravures celebrating electricity’s contributions to the modern home. The artist deployed his characteristic abstract methods to produce exciting images of fans, toasters, light cords, and other twentieth-century conveniences. Although we do not know who printed the photogravures, Man Ray clearly worked with an artisan who was very skilled at the hand-pulled gravure process.

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Man Ray, Lingerie, 1931 | Philadelphia Museum of Art