The J. Paul Getty Museum

Electricity - Kitchen (Electricite - Cuisine)

Object Details

Title:

Electricity - Kitchen (Electricite - Cuisine)

Artist/Maker:

Man Ray (American, 1890 - 1976)

Culture:

American

Date:

1931

Medium:

Photogravure

Object Number:

84.XM.1000.5

Dimensions:

19.7 × 26 cm (7 3/4 × 10 1/4 in.)

Copyright:

© Man Ray Trust ARS-ADAGP

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Object Description

In 1931 the Paris electric company CPDE commissioned Man Ray to produce a series of images promoting the personal uses of electricity. The resulting portfolio, Électricité, included pictures of the uses of electricity in each room of a house, as in Cuisine (Kitchen). The whimsical print lent a familiarity and friendliness to the mysterious power marketed by CPDE.

The Électricité portfolio included ten Rayographs reproduced as photogravures. The company released it in an edition of five hundred for distribution to top CPDE executives and special customers.

Provenance
Provenance
before 1973

Man Ray, American, 1890 - 1976, sold to Arnold Crane, before 1973.

before 1973 - 1984

Arnold Crane, American, 1932 - 2014, sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1984.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
L'Amour Fou: Photography and Surrealism (September 14, 1985 to October 5, 1986)
  • The Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington), September 14 to November 17, 1985
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco), December 13, 1985 to February 1, 1986
A Practical Dreamer: The Photographs of Man Ray (October 27, 1998 to October 8, 2000)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), October 27, 1998 to January 17, 1999
  • Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), April 2 to June 25, 2000
  • Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), July 13 to October 8, 2000
In Focus: Tasteful Pictures (April 6 to August 22, 2010)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), April 6 to August 22, 2010
Bibliography
Bibliography

Krauss, Rosalind E. and Jane Livingston. L'Amour Fou: Photography and Surrealism (Washington, D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art; New York: Abbeville Press, 1985), p. 230.