If you are unable to come to UMMA in person due to illness, quarantine, etc., you can choose a work from this set of surrealist and surrealist-adjacent pieces from the UMMA collection. 
59 Items in this Learning Collection
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Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

Allume tes gitanes

Accession Number
1972/2.4

Title
Allume tes gitanes

Artist(s)
Man Ray

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
circa 1965

Medium & Support
etching on paper

Dimensions
20 in x 13 7/8 in (50.8 cm x 35.24 cm);18 1/16 in x 22 1/8 in (45.88 cm x 56.2 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Subject matter
In this late Surrealist work by Man Ray, he continues to juxtapose strange combinations of objects to form new meanings. The print was produced after he moved to Paris at the end of the Second World War, yet its imagery is reminiscent of his earlier work in the 1920s and 30s. The gun had already been used in a 1922 rayograph and the technique of personal branding, the label at the lower right, is reminiscent of his work with Duchamp in that earlier period.
In this print, there is a visual as well as linguistic game at play. The guns point at one another, ready to shoot or be "lit" as the title jokingly suggests. The Gitanes, labeled in the fake ad that Man Ray has appropriated, is a brand of French cigarettes that has a gypsy as its brand logo—it was also the favorite cigarette of his wife Juliet. Possibly, even, the guns could be used to light the cigarettes in question.

Physical Description
This black and white print shows the images of two pistols pointed at each other. Two large black abstract forms with vertical stripes sit underneath and above the two guns. At the lower right, there is a rectanglular box with the text "ALLUME TES / GITANES" and artist's signature "Man Ray", alongside an image comprised of half a glass bottle and abstract shapes and marks. The print is signed (l.r.) "Man Ray" and numbered (l.l.) "8/41" in pencil.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Rom (culture)
Surrealist
abstraction
etching (printing process)
guns
modern and contemporary art
revolvers (firearms)
smoking (activity)

& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved