Man Ray. Indestructible Object (or Object to Be Destroyed). 1964 (replica of 1923 original). Metronome with cutout photograph of eye on pendulum, 8 7/8 x 4 3/8 x 4 5/8" (22.5 x 11 x 11.6 cm). James Thrall Soby Fund. © 2013 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Man Ray dated this work 1923, though it was transformed in 1932 when he substituted a photograph of the eye of Lee Miller—a photographer and the artist’s assistant, model, and lover—for the original eye he had used in what was then titled Object to Be Destroyed. At an exhibition in 1957, a group of protesting students took Man Ray at his word by destroying it; Man Ray eventually reconstructed and renamed the work Indestructible Object.