Far from having a purely literary origin, as has often been claimed, the “metaphysical mannequin” emerges from the autonomous and purely formal research of the painter Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978). Conceived in opposition to the “realistic mannequin” of Parisian shop windows and the machine-man theorized by the Futurist avant-garde, the metaphysical mannequin also stems from a repeated exploration of the simulacra of the human figure—namely the statue, the shadow, the double, and the puppet. These forms embody the various possibilities of representing the human being by capturing it in its material essence, suspended between the living and the inanimate.
In 1973, Milanese publisher Luciano Anselmino invited several artists to collaborate on the creation of a gift for Man Ray in celebration of his 80th birthday.
