Red iron
(Fer rouge)
1966
- Medium
- enamel paint on iron
- Measurements
- 15.7 × 9.4 × 9.5 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Paris, France
- Edition
- ed. 5/10
- Inscription
- inscribed (vertically) in white paint u.c. Man Ray 1966 5/10
- Accession Number
- 2013.938
- Department
- International Sculpture
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Yvonne Pettengell Bequest, 2013
© Man Ray Trust. ADAGP/Copyright Agency
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
-
Red iron (Fer rouge) is a modified readymade sculpture that consists of a metal flat iron painted red. Its title is a verbal pun on both the French expression feu rouge (red stop-light) and its literal meaning, ‘red-hot iron’. The work’s colour and title suggest fire and heat, while the object itself remains cold and impassive. This contrast between red-hot colouration and the iron’s frigid materiality plays upon the Surrealist object’s latent potential for violence.
