“The Gift (Le Cadeau in French) is a readymade sculpture by Man Ray, consisting of an iron with fourteen thumb tacks glued to its sole. An iconic work of the Dada movement, it was created spontaneously and exhibited at the opening of Ray's first solo show in Paris, at Phillippe Soupault's Galerie Six on December 3, 1921. The original is lost but its concept survives through later reproductions created or sanctioned by the artist.
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Ray intended to present The Gift to Phillippe Soupault in gratitude for his sponsorship, but it was stolen from the Galerie Six the same day and never recovered. He went on to create many individual reproductions of the piece throughout his career, and in his last years Ray authorized two limited editions: a series of eleven collector's pieces published by the Galleria Il Fauno, Turin (1972),[4] and a more commercial scale 5000 replicas of The Gift in 1974.”