<I>Excavation Or the Law of Diminishing Returns</I>

We Deserve Scheme Z and Excavation or the Law of Diminishing Returns

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We Deserve Scheme Z.

This is a Reclamation Artists Project in 1990 at the height of public outcry against “the Big Dig” in Charlestown-a five tiered eight-lane expressway interchange, part of the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project for Greater Boston. A gas pump contains a video monitor showing Boston rush-hour traffic with the audio track overdubbed several times until it sounds like babble. A dead bird covered in oil lays where the price per gallon is usually displayed. The word “Mobiline” is taken from Duchamp’s “love gasoline” the substance activating the Bride’s motor in his work “The Bridge Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even” in the Phildelphia Museum of Art.

Excavation or the Law of Diminishing Returns. l994 Reclamation Artists project about the same highway system. North Point, Cambridge. Replicas of Duchamp’s Readymades appear to be strewn along an excavated highway. This installation is on the site of the (now under construction) Central Artery. The installation was intended to “disturb the peace” of Modernism as Duchamp had done and as the highway construction is presently doing. click images to enlarge Into the Vitrine click images to enlarge Marcel Duchamp, Interior view of Etant donnés: 1º la chute d’eau / 2º le gas d’éclairage (Given: 1. The Waterfall /2. The Illuminating Gas), 1946-66

Into the Vitrine The hand melted down in carbon like ash but veined palpably Fingers in a throttle and over all of course wax Into the vitrine it all went Visibility held its charms but oh so old And so closeted in glass no stench arose. Rrose Sélavy, she said. Harriet Zinnes, 1999

These six paintings linking Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray are part of a long-term project on art, artists and art movements. The Duchamp/Man Ray paintings are pairs or companion pieces. The paintings, in gouache, are not absolutely faithful to detail or color and are painted with flat surfaces and thin paint so as not to reproduce the texture of the originals. The series began late in 1995. It was completed in early 2000 with nineteen paintings.

The work is in various paint media-gouache, acrylic, oil- acrylic gel transfer photocopies and computer-generated type. While each pair of paintings carries intellectual and personal content, their primary impact is visual.

The block letter texts framing the images are gleaned from various sources; they are pertinent to the images and are combinations of artist’s titles and descriptions as well as observations from critics, historians and curators, and others.

Some of the artists have influenced me or been a source of inspiration. Others’ work uses motifs and backdrops for intertextual discourse. Each pair has a Jewish context or presence. The Jewishness is represented by my selection of artists, critics, and historians. The paintings are personal responses to specific aesthetics, works of art, artists, art movements, art personalities, and my own social, aesthetic, or political engagement with them.

In this century, copying, can be found in the work of Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein and Sherrie Levine. Picasso abducted other sources because he needed icons as sources of inspiration; Lichtenstein carried away various modernist pictures to praise and subvert them for his popular comic book style and Levine deconstructed modernist paradigms in her “stainless steals.” Unlike Picasso, I am not pilfering images; unlike Lichtenstein, I am not re-designing paintings to convey a post-modern aura; and unlike Levine, I am not re-writing history. But more like the poster paintings of Charles Demuth, on the other hand, which were tributes to his friends and associates, this work is largely about late modernism, artists and critics and their complicated inter-personal associations.

The written material, aside the paintings, augments the narrative I tell in pictures and words:

Paintings 1 & 2, 1997-1998 (44″x34″)

Left Panel: ADOPTED BY THE FRENCH/PAINTING WITH LIGHT/OUR OWN MAN RAY/BROKEN WITH SIGHT

The background image is a painted copy of Man Ray’s The Rope Dancer Accompanies herself with her Shadows, 1916. This painting was completed while Marcel Duchamp was working on his Large Glass; it is in homage to or, at least, is an allusion to Duchamp’s work. The central photocopy is a Man Ray self- portrait photograph with a camera. His quote reads: “I tell them that the tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow.” The photocopy in the lower center is a photograph of the lower portion of The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even by Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp’s Dust Breeding, 1920.

Right panel: WELCOME TO NEW YORK/BROKEN WITH SIGHT/ENIGMATIC DUCHAMP/ANTI RETINAL ART

The background image is a painted copy of Duchamp’s drawing for the Large Glass. The central photocopy is a photograph of Duchamp by Man Ray. His quote reads: “It is idle to explain it, I do not explain it. It is, after all, the fourth dimension.” The photocopy in the lower center is the lower portion of the Large Glass photographed by Charles Scheeler, c. 1921.

Text around these paintings was gleaned from what the artists said and what others said about them. “WELCOME TO NEW YORK,” is from a Francis Picabia painting completed shortly after he made his first visit to the city and encouraged Duchamp to follow.

Duchamp, a son of a French notary, and Man Ray, born of immigrant Jews in Philadelphia, were friends and partners in art and chess since they met in New Jersey in 1915 where they feigned an imaginary game of tennis. Perhaps this was the first work of Performance Art. They shared interests in Dada, machine-like contrivances, cross-dressing, women, sex and readymades, as well as chess, for over fifty years.

Paintings 3 & 4, 1998 (44″x34″) Left Panel: …ROSE SEL A VIE/EROSE C’EST LA VIE/EM(MAN)UEL (RA)DNITSK(Y)/C’EST DE LA BELLE HÆLEINE

The background images are painted copies of Man Ray drawings: the left side drawing was done from a photograph of Man Ray’s wife, Julie in 1942; the right side is a surrealist drawing, Sablier-compte fils [(the) Hourglass Counts (the) Threads, (probably another reference to the bride stripping bare)], 1938. The central photocopy is a self-portrait photograph in which Man Ray depicts himself about to indulge in multiple suicides. His quote reads: “To Be-continued unnoticed.” The photocopy lower center is a magazine reproduction of a solarized print with color: Beauty in Ultra Violet, 1940.

Right Panel: …ROSE SEL A VIE/EROS C’EST LA VIE/RROSE SELAVY/C’EST LA BELLE HELENE

The background images are painted copies of Duchamp’s etchings. The left side is from Lucas Cranach’s Adam and Eve from a presentation, years before, with Duchamp on stage as Adam and Bronia Perlmutter as Eve in a Ciné Sketch produced by Francis Picabia and René Clair at the Théâtre des Champs- Elysées. The right side is from a painting by Gustav Courbét- this is the bride stripping bare; the falcon represents a “peeping Tom” bachelor and “a false cunt and a real one,” according to Duchamp. The central photocopy is a photograph of Duchamp as Rrose Selavy-his alter ego Jewish woman persona. His quote reads: “…I consider myself…’an unfrocked artist.'” The photocopy lower center is Duchamp’s relief maquette, painted leather over a plaster mounted on velvet, for Etant donné: Given the Illuminating Gas and the Waterfall, 1948-’49. Multiple puns abound in the text: Man Ray’s, “…ROSE SEL A VIE (originally a Rayograph Dadist object portrait of Duchamp published in The little Review, 1922) translates to “ROSE THE SALT OF LIFE,” Duchamp’s French enunciation, EROS C’EST LA VIE, is “EROTICISM THAT’S LIFE,” and his English transliteration of RROSE SELAVY is “ROSE LEVY.” Other puns revolve around the perfume bottle readymade with a photograph portrait of Duchamp as a woman wearing a hat (not shown) called “C”EST DE LA BELLE HÆLEINE-BEAUTIFUL BREATH.” (I superimposed the “A” over the “E” to make the pun on “HALEINE” more closely resemble “HELENE.” “C’EST DE LA BELLE HELENE- BEAUTIFUL HELEN,” which is my addition to the punster game.

Paintings 5 & 6, 1998 (44″x34″)

Left Panel: I AND MARCEL A DUEL/THE KING IS MINE/PORTRAIT OF THIRTY YEARS/THE QUEEN IS YOURS (This is to be read horizontally top and bottom and vertically right and left.)

The background image is a painted copy of Man Ray’sNight Sun–Abandoned Playground, 1943. The central photocopy is a photograph of Man Ray and Duchamp, as old men, playing chess. His quote reads: “The Cosmic Urge-with ape-ologies to PicASSo, 1915.” The photocopy lower center is Man Ray’s whimsical construction of a chess board with three giant chess pieces, Permanent Attraction, 1948

Right Panel: A YOUNG MAN OF GOOD/ELEMENTARY TREATICE/ PROVINCIAL/FAMILY/ON FOUR-DIMENSIONS (This is to be read horizontally top and bottom and vertically right and left.)

The background image is a painted copy of Duchamp’s The Chess Game, 1910, which includes his two artist brothers playing chess and his sisters sitting around. The central photocopy is of a photograph of Man Ray and Duchamp, as young men, playing chess. His quote reads: “A piece of canned chance. It’s amusing to put chance in a can,” 1913-1914. The photocopy lower center is of Duchamp’s construction, “Pocket Chess set with Rubber Glove,” 1966, upside down.

The mysteries of chess, plays on words, games, chance, physics and mathematics were mutual interests of these perplexing artists.

Marcel Duchamp and Literature

By no means complete and, on more than one occasion, eminently perfectible, this bibliography aspires nevertheless to offer the first gathering of the names of writers and the titles of literary works that are related, either directly or indirectly, to Marcel Duchamp or to the work of Marcel Duchamp.

For matters of clarification, entries have been arranged chronologically in each of the four sections. If a book is reprinted or initially published in a paperback edition, this is indicated. If a book is translated, in full or in part, in English or in French, this is also indicated. The four sections are the following: I. Those who have published a. at least one book, chapter, or article on the work of Marcel Duchamp, or an interview with him, as well as b. a literary work (novel, collection of short stories, poetry, play). II. Those who have published a literary work (novel, short story, play, etc.) which was “inspired” or “partially inspired” by the work of Marcel Duchamp or Duchamp himself. III. Those who have published a literary work (novel, short story, poem, etc.) “in honor of” or “in partial honor of” Marcel Duchamp or his work. IV. Literary works “illustrated” by Marcel Duchamp (alone or in collaboration) or by Marcel Duchamp and another artist.

Recognition of the first important work by Duchamp, of several works by Duchamp, and of what we’ve agreed to collectively call “the art of Marcel Duchamp” truly began in 1913 – with public recognition from the Americans (at the Armory Show, 1913) and critical recognition from the French (Apollinaire, 1913). Although more developed on the English-speaking side, the connections between art and literature, if one were to consider them, seem clearly more constant, even more consistent, on the French-speaking side. No relation of cause and effect here, but a simple observation: quite a lot of those who have written or will write about Marcel Duchamp have written or will also write (most often in French) literary texts.

André Gervais Janvier 2000

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Those who have published a. at least one book, chapter, or article on the work of Marcel Duchamp, or an interview with him, as well as b. a literary work (novel, collection of short stories, poetry, play). Note : In each case, the publication date of (a) is provided first, in brackets, before the author’s name. Following the author’s name is a list of his/her literary texts. Where an author has published a number of literary texts, the choice has been limited to four.

[1913, Chapter] Guillaume Apollinaire, pseud. de Wilhem Apollinaire de Kostrowitzky (1880-1918)

L’enchanteur pourrissant With a portrait by Pablo Picasso. Paris : Mercure de France, 1913; Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Poésie/Gallimard”; Alcools. Translated by Anne Hyde Greet, with a foreword by Warren Ramsey. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965; Alcools. Translated by Donald Revell. Hanover: University Press of New England for Wesleyan University Press, 1995. Le poète assassiné, With a portrait by André Rouveyre. Paris: Bibliothèque des curieux, 1916; Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Poésie / Gallimard”; The Poet Assassinated. Translated with a bibliographical notice and notes by Matthew Josephson. New York: The Broom Pub. Co., 1923; The Poet Assassinated. Translated by Ron Padgett, illustrated by Jim Dine. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968. Calligrammes, [Poems of peace and war 1913-1916]. With a portrait by Pablo Picasso. Paris : Mercure de France, 1918; Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Poésie / Gallimard “; Calligrammes. Translated by Anne Hyde Greet, with an introduction by S. I. Lockerbie and commentary by Anne Hyde Greet and S. I. Lockerbie. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.

[1917, Article-entrevue] Mina Loy, pseud. de Mina Lowy (1882-1966)

Lunar Baedecker [sic], Paris: Contact Publishing Company, 1923; Lunar Baedeker & Time-tables. Highlands, NC: Jonathan Williams, 1958; The Last Lunar Baedeker. Edited and introduced by Roger L. Conover. Highlands, NC: The Jargon Society, 1982; The Lost Lunar Baedeker. Definitive edition, edited and introduced by Roger L. Conover. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996

[1917, Article]Louise Varèse, née Louise McCutcheon (1890-1988)

St.-John Perse. Éloges, and other poems, French text with English translation by Louise Varèse and introduction by Archibald MacLeish, New York, W.W. Norton & Co, 1944. Charles Baudelaire. Paris Spleen, translated by Louise Varèse, New York, New Directions, 1947. Marcel Proust. Pleasures and Regrets, translated by Louise Varèse, with a preface by Anatole France, New York, Crown Publishers, 1948. Varèse: A Looking-Glass Diary, Volume 1, 1883-1928; New York, W.W. Norton & Co, 1972.

[1922, Article] André Breton (1896-1966)

Nadja [1928], [story] Completely revised edition, by the author. Paris: Gallimard, 1963; coll. “Folio”; Nadja. Translated by Richard Howard. New York: Grove Press, 1960 and London: Evergreen Books, Ltd., 1960. Arcane 17 [1944, with four colored tarot strips by Matta] enté d’Ajours. With three etchings by Baskine. Paris: Éd. du Sagittaire, 1947; coll. “10 / 18 “; Arcanum 17 : With Apertures : Grafted to the End. Translated by Zack Rogow, with an introduction by Anna Balakian. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1994. Clair de terre(1) , [poems]. Preface by Alain Jouffroy. Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Poésie / Gallimard,” 1966. Signe ascendant(2) , Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Poésie / Gallimard,” 1966

[1924, Preface] Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) Geography and Plays, Boston, The Four Seas Company, 1922. The Making of Americans, Being a History of a Family’s Progress , novel, Paris, Contact Editions, 1925; Américains d’Amérique, histoire d’une famille américaine, traduction de la baronne J. Seillère et de Bernard Faÿ, Paris, Stock, Delamain et Boutelleau, 1933. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, London, John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1933;Autobiographie d’Alice Toklas, traduction de Bernard Faÿ, Paris, Gallimard, 1934. Everybody’s Autobiography, New York, Random House, 1937; Autobiographies, traduction de la baronne d’Aiguy [May Tagnard], Paris, Éd. Confluences, 1945.

[1924, Book]

Pierre de Massot (1900-1969) Prolégomènes à une éthique sans métaphysique ou Billy, bull-dog et philosophe [essay]. Paris: Éditions de la Montagne, 1930. Mon corps, ce doux démon [written 1932] [autobiography]. Letter-preface by André Gide, with an engraved portrait by Jacques Villon, s.l.n.d. [Alès: PAB, 1959]. Le mystère des maux [poems]. With a drawing by Francis Picabia. Paris: hors commerce [Imprimerie René Martinet et Cie], 1961.(3) Le déserteur. Oeuvre poétique 1923-1969, texts collected

and presented by Gérard Pfister, Paris, Arfuyen, 1992.(4)

[1936, article] Michel Leiris

L’âge d’homme published 1939]. Preceded by: De la littérature considérée comme une tauromachie [1946] [first autobiography]. Paris: Gallimard, 1946; Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Folio”; Manhood : A Journey from Childhood into the Fierce Order of Virility. Preceded by: The Autobiographer as Torero. Translated by Richard Howard. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1963. La règle du jeu. Tome I: Biffures,Tome II: Fourbis, Tome III: Fibrilles [and] Tome IV: Frêle bruit [second autobiography]. Paris: Gallimard, respectively 1948, 1955, 1966 and 1976: the four volumes, coll. “L’imaginaire”; Rules of the Game: Scratches [Biffures]. Translated by Lydia Davis. New York: Paragon House, 1991 [Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, 1997]; Scraps [Fourbis]. Translated by Lydia Davis. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, 1997. Mots sans mémoire (5), Paris, Gallimard, 1969. Journal 1922-1989,Critical edition presented and annotated by Jean Jamin. Paris: Gallimard, 1992.

[1937, article] Roger Caillois (1913-1978)

Art poétique, Paris, Gallimard, 1958. Esthétique généralisée, Paris, Gallimard, 1962. Pierres, Paris, Gallimard, 1966. Obliques [1967] précédé de Images, images… [1966], Paris, Gallimard, coll. ” Le monde ouvert “, 1974.

[1938, article-entrevue; 1959, livre] Robert Lebel (1901-1986)

Masque à lame, Illustrated by Isabelle Waldberg. New York: Éd. Hémisphères, 1943. L’oiseau caramel,, Illustrated by Max Ernst. Paris: le Soleil noir, 1969. La Saint-Charlemagne, illustré par Max Ernst, Paris, le Soleil noir, 1976.

[1945, article] Man Ray, pseud. d’Emmanuel Radnitsky (1890-1976)

Self portrait [begun 1951, published 1963] [autobiography]. Foreword by Merry A. Foresta. Afterword by Juliet Man Ray. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., and the New York Graphic Society, 1988; Autoportrait. Translated into French by Anne Guérin. Paris: Laffont, 1964; Arles: Actes Sud, coll. “Babel.” Ce que je suis et autres textes, Presented by Vincent Lavoie. Paris: Hoëbeke, coll. “Arts & esthétique,” 1998.

[1945, article] Nicolas Calas [pseud.], [also known as Nikolas Kalas], Nikos Kalamares (1907- )

Odos Niketa Randou [Rue Nikita Randou], poèmes, Athènes, Ikaros, 1977.

[1949, article] Gaston Puel (1924-)

Paysage nuptial, frontispice de Hans Bellmer, Paris, GLM, 1947. La jamais rencontrée, frontispice de Max Ernst, Paris, Seghers, 1950. Ce chant entre deux astres, collage de Jean Arp en double frontispice, Lyon, Henneuse éd., 1956. Le cinquième château, avec deux bois originaux de Raoul Ubac, Veilhes, la Fenêtre ardente, 1965.

[1950, article; 1974, livre] Jean Suquet (1928-)

Jamais rien ni personne, Enhanced with an engraving faded by time. Paris: le Parler de la lune aphasique, 1958. Une chimie greffée de chimères,Paris: le Parler de la lune aphasique, 1972.

Oubli sablier intarissable(6), n° spécial de la revue Liard, Bordeaux, 1996.

[1952, article; 1954, chapitre] Michel Carrouges, pseud. de Louis Couturier (1910-1988)

Les portes dauphines, roman, Paris, Gallimard, 1954. Les grands-pères prodiges, roman, Paris, Plon, 1957.

[1953, article] Henri Pierre Roché (1879-1959)

Jean Roc [pseud.]. Don Juan et… [story]. Paris: Éd. de la Sirène, 1921; Marseille: André Dimanche Éditeur, 1993. Jules et Jim [novel]. Paris: Gallimard, 1953; coll. “Folio”; Jules and Jim, translated by Patrick Evans. London and Boston: M. Boyars, 1963. Deux Anglaises et le continent, roman, Paris, Gallimard, 1956. Carnets. Les années Jules et Jim. Part one, 1920-1921. Foreword by François Truffaut. Marseille: André Dimanche Éditeur, 1990.

[1954, article-entrevue] Alain Jouffroy (1928-)

Un rêve plus long que la nuit, roman, Paris, Gallimard, 1964; coll. ” Folio “. Trajectoire, récit-récitatif, Paris: Gallimard, 1968. Liberté des libertés, Illustrated by Joan Miró and Valerio Adami. Paris: le Soleil noir, 1971. L’ouverture de l’être 1947-1962, poèmes,Preface by Sarane Alexandrian. Paris: Éd. de la Différence, coll. “Littérature,” 1983.

[1957, article-entrevue] Jean Schuster (1929-1995)

Les moutons, Paris, Éd. le Récipiendaire, 1978. Introduction and notes by Michel Déon. Paris: Éd. de la Table ronde, 1964; Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Idées”; Diary of a Genius. Foreword and notes by Michel Déon. Translated by Richard Howard. New York: Doubleday, 1965.

[1959, article] Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

La vie secrète de Salvador Dali, Translated by Haakon M. Chevalier. New York: Dial Press, 1942; La vie secrète de Salvador Dali. Adapted by Michel Déon. Paris: Éd. de la Table ronde, coll. “Les vies perpendiculaires,” 1952; Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Idées.”.

[1963, article] John Cage (1912-1992) Silence, lectures and writings; A Year from Monday [new lectures and writings]; M [writings, ’67-’72]; Empty Words [writings, ’73-’78]; X [writings, ’79-’82]; Middletown (CT): Wesleyan University Press, respectively 1961, 1967, 1973, 1979 and 1983; Silence. Translated into the French by Monique Fong. Paris: Denoël, 1970. Pour les oiseaux, Dialogues with Daniel Charles. Paris: Belfond, 1976; For the Birds, Boston: M. Boyards, 1981.

[1964, chapitre; 1967, livre] Arturo Schwarz (1924-)

Choix de poèmes [en français], Paris, Seghers, 1956. Il Reale Assoluto, With eleven lithographs by Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. Milan: Galleria Schwarz, 1964.. Per Vera, poems In Italian. With a portrait of Vera by Franco Francese. Milan: Penna di Pollo Editore, 1984. A coat made of wind, n English. With an engraving by Ofer Lellouche. Tel-Aviv: The Genia Shreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University, 1994.

[1968, article] Denis de Rougemont (1906-1985)

L’amour et l’occident, essay [1939], Revised edition. Paris: Plon, 1956; Paris: UGÉ, coll. “10 / 18”; Love in the Western World. Revised and augmented edition. Translated by Montgomery Belgion. New York: Pantheon, 1956. [The other title of this translation is Passion and Society, London: Faber and Faber, 1956]. La part du diable [fin 1942],New version. Neuchâtel: la Baconnière, 1945; The Devil’s Share [essay]. On the diabolic in modern society. Translated by Haakon M. Chevalier. New York: Meridian Books, 1956. Lettres sur la bombe atomique, Paris, Gallimard, 1946. Journal d’une époque 1926-1946, Paris: Gallimard, 1968. [Revised edition of Journal des deux mondes, 1947.].

[1968, livre] Octavio Paz (1914-1998)

Liberté sur parole [translated into French, 1966], followed by: Condition de nuage, Aigle ou soleil [1951], À la limite du monde [1942], and Pierre de soleil [1957, translated into French, 1962] [poems]; Translated from the Spanish by Jean-Clarence Lambert (reviewd by the author) and Benjamin Péret. Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Poésie / Gallimard,” 1971. Versant Est [Ladera Este (1962-1968), Translated from the Spanish into French by Yesé Amory et al. Paris: Gallimard, 1970; coll. “Poésie / Gallimard.” The collected poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987, Edited and translated into English by Eliot Weinberger, with additional translations by Elizabeth Bishop et al. New York: New Directions, 1987. Le singe grammairien, Translated into the French by Claude Esteban. Geneva: Skira, coll. “Les sentiers de la création,” 1972; The Monkey Grammarian. Translated into the English by Helen R. Lane. New York: Seaver Books, 1981.

[1969, article] Bernard Teyssèdre (1930-)

Romans-éclairs, Paris, Grasset, 1961. Foi de fol, [comical story entangled with plagiarism and examples]. Paris: Gallimard, coll. “Le chemin,”1968. Le roman de l’Origine, Paris: Gallimard, coll. “L’Infini,” 1996.

[1971, article] José Pierre (1927-1998 ?)

Qu’est-ce que Thérèse? C’est les marronniers en fleurs, roman, Paris, le Soleil noir, 1974; coll. ” J’ai lu. Pour lecteurs avertis “. La charité commence par un baiser, Paris: Galilée, coll. “Ligne fictive,” 1980. Les barreaux du coeur, roman, Paris, Mercure de France, coll. ” Le Mercure galant “, 1986. La fontaine close. Mercure de France, coll. “Le Mercure galant,” 1986. La fontaine close. Les livres secrets d’une secte gnostique inconnue. Paris: l’Instant, coll. “Griffures,” 1988.

[1972, article] Marcelin Pleynet (1933-)

Stanze. Incantation dite au bandeau d’or, Paris, Seuil, coll. ” Tel quel “, 1973. Rime, Paris, Seuil, coll. ” Tel quel “, 1981. Le jour et l’heure, journal, Paris, Plon, coll. ” Carnets “, 1988. La vie à deux ou trois, roman, Paris, Gallimard, 1992.

[1973, article] David Antin (1932-)

Selected Poems 1963-1973, Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, coll. “Sun & Moon classics,” 1991; Poèmes parlés. Translated into the French by Jacques Darras et al., preface by Jacques Darras. Saint-Pierre-du-Mont: les Cahiers des brisants, coll. “les Cahiers de Royaumont,” 1984.

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2. Those who have published a literary work (novel, short story, play, etc.) which was “inspired” or “partially inspired” by the work of Marcel Duchamp or Duchamp himself; Note: Names preceded by an asterisk have already been listed in Section I.

Elmer Ernest Southard (1876-1920)

” Mlle de l’escalier ” [novella, dictated into English, November 17, 1916]. In The Open Mind. Elmer Ernest Southard 1876-1920 by Frederick P. Gay. Chicago: Normandie House, 1938.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, (“The Baroness”), born Elsa Hildegard Ploetz (1874-1927) “Portrait de Marcel Duchamp” [poem]. In English. The Little Review, vol. 9, no. 2 (New York, Winter 1922).

Henrie Waste, Henrietta (“Ettie”) Stettheimer (1874-1955)

Love Days [Susanna Moore’s], [written from 1919 (?) to 1922] [novel]. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, [August] 1923. ” Pensée-Cadeau: vers à un ami ” [Summer 1922] [poem]. In French. View, series 5, no. 1 (New York, March 1945)

Robert Desnos (1900-1945)

Rrose Sélavy [written October 1922-1923] [aphorisms]. Published in part in Littérature, new series: no. 7 (Paris, December 1, 1922); published in part (but with variation) in Corps et biens. Paris: Gallimard, 1930; coll. “Poésie / Gallimard.” L’aumonyme [written from November 1922 to December 1923]. In Corps et biens. Paris: Gallimard, 1930; coll. “Poésie / Gallimard.”

Francis Picabia (1879-1953) Caravansérail [written from June 1923 to January 1924] [novel]. Paris: Belfond, 1974.

[1974, article] Bernard Pingaud (1923-)

La voix de son maître, Paris, Gallimard, 1973. La scène primitive, Paris, Gallimard, 1984; coll. ” L’imaginaire “. Adieu Kafka, roman, Paris, Gallimard, 1989. Bartoldi le comédien, roman, Paris, Seuil, 1996. *******************

2. Ceux qui ont publié une oeuvre littéraire (roman, nouvelle, pièce, etc.) qui est ” inspirée ” ou partiellement ” inspirée ” par l’oeuvre ou la personne de Marcel Duchamp N.B. Les noms précédés d’un astérisque sont déjà dans la section 1

Elmer Ernest Southard (1876-1920)

” Mlle de l’escalier ” [novelette, dictée le 17 novembre 1916], dans Frederick P. Gay, The Open Mind. Elmer Ernest Southard 1876-1920, Chicago, Normandie House, 1938.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, dite The Baroness, née Elsa Hildegard Ploetz (1874-1927)

” Portrait de Marcel Duchamp “, The Little Review, New York, vol. 9, n° 2, hiver 1922.

Henrie Waste, pseud. d’Henrietta, dite Ettie, Stettheimer (1874-1955)

Love Days [Susanna Moore’s], novel [écrit de 1919 (?) à 1922], New York, Alfred A. Knopf, [août] 1923. ” Pensée-Cadeau: vers à un ami ” [poème, été 1922], dans View, New York, série 5, n° 1, mars 1945.

[1974, article] Jean-Clarence Lambert (1930-)

Les armes parlantes. Pratique de la poésie, Paris, Belfond, 1976. Idylles précédé de Féminaire, dessins de Corneille, Paris, Galilée, coll. ” Écritures, figures “, 1985. Poésie en jeu 1953-1973, Paris, Galilée, coll. ” Écritures, figures “, 1986. Le jardin le labyrinthe 1953-1989, poèmes, prologue d’Octavio Paz, Paris, Éd. de la Différence, coll. ” Littérature “, 1991.[1974, article] Gilbert Lascault (1934-) Enfances choisies, Paris, Bourgois, 1976. Encyclopédie abrégée de l’Empire vert, Paris, Maurice Nadeau: Papyrus, coll. ” Lettres nouvelles “, 1983. Éloges à Geneviève, Paris, Balland, 1985. Les amours d’Arthur-Toujours-Là et de Monika- Belle-de-Givre, mies de pain de Pétra Werlé, Strasbourg, Baby Lone, coll. ” L’île sonnante “, 1986. *******************

Elmer Ernest Southard (1876-1920)

” Mlle de l’escalier ” [novelette, dictée le 17 novembre 1916], dans Frederick P. Gay, The Open Mind. Elmer Ernest Southard 1876-1920, Chicago, Normandie House, 1938.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, dite The Baroness, née Elsa Hildegard Ploetz (1874-1927)

” Portrait de Marcel Duchamp “, The Little Review, New York, vol. 9, n° 2, hiver 1922.

Henrie Waste, pseud. d’Henrietta, dite Ettie, Stettheimer (1874-1955)

La modification, roman, Paris, Minuit, 1957; coll. ” 10 / 18 “. Mobile, étude pour une représentation des États-Unis, Paris, Gallimard, 1962; Mobile, study for a representation of the United States, translated by Richard Howard, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1963. Matière de rêves, Matière de rêves II. Second sous-sol, Matière de rêves III. Troisième dessous et Matière de rêves IV. Quadruple fond, Paris, Gallimard, coll. ” Le chemin “, respectivement 1975, 1976, 1977, 1981. Envois et Exprès. (Envois 2), poèmes, Paris, Gallimard, coll. ” Le chemin “, 1980 et 1983. *******************

Elmer Ernest Southard (1876-1920)

” Mlle de l’escalier ” [novelette, dictée le 17 novembre 1916], dans Frederick P. Gay, The Open Mind. Elmer Ernest Southard 1876-1920, Chicago, Normandie House, 1938.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, dite The Baroness, née Elsa Hildegard Ploetz (1874-1927)

” Portrait de Marcel Duchamp “, The Little Review, New York, vol. 9, n° 2, hiver 1922. Henrie Waste, pseud. d’Henrietta, dite Ettie, Stettheimer (1874-1955)

[1975, livre] Jean Clair, pseud. de Gérard Régnier (1940-)

Gérard Régnier, Les chemins détournés, roman, Paris, Gallimard, 1962. Le voyageur égoïste, carnets de voyage 1978-1988, Paris, Plon, coll. ” Carnets “, 1989. Onze chansons puériles, numérotées par Pierre Alechinsky (1927-), Caen, l’Échoppe, 1990. *******************

Elmer Ernest Southard (1876-1920)

” Mlle de l’escalier ” [novelette, dictée le 17 novembre 1916], dans Frederick P. Gay, The Open Mind. Elmer Ernest Southard 1876-1920, Chicago, Normandie House, 1938.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, dite The Baroness, née Elsa Hildegard Ploetz (1874-1927) ” Portrait de Marcel Duchamp “, The Little Review, New York, vol. 9, n° 2, hiver 1922.

Henrie Waste, pseud. d’Henrietta, dite Ettie, Stettheimer (1874-1955)

[1976, livre] Sarane Alexandrian (1927-)

Le déconcerto, contes, Paris, Galilée, coll. ” Ligne fictive “, 1980. L’aventure en soi, autobiographie, Paris, Mercure de France, 1990. Le grand astrosophe, roman, Paris, Losfeld, 1994. *******************

Elmer Ernest Southard (1876-1920)

” Mlle de l’escalier ” [novelette, dictée le 17 novembre 1916], dans Frederick P. Gay, The Open Mind. Elmer Ernest Southard 1876-1920, Chicago, Normandie House, 1938.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, dite The Baroness, née Elsa Hildegard Ploetz (1874-1927) ” Portrait de Marcel Duchamp “, The Little Review, New York, vol. 9, n° 2, hiver 1922.

Henrie Waste, pseud. d’Henrietta, dite Ettie, Stettheimer (1874-1955)

Récits tremblants, avec Jacques Monory (1934-), Paris, Galilée, 1977. Le mur du Pacifique, récit, Paris, Galilée, coll. ” Ligne fictive “, 1979. L’histoire de Ruth, avec Ruth Francken (1924-), Talence, le Castor astral, coll. ” Le mot et la forme “, 1983. *******************

Elmer Ernest Southard (1876-1920)

” Mlle de l’escalier ” [novelette, dictée le 17 novembre 1916], dans Frederick P. Gay, The Open Mind. Elmer Ernest Southard 1876-1920, Chicago, Normandie House, 1938.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, dite The Baroness, née Elsa Hildegard Ploetz (1874-1927) ” Portrait de Marcel Duchamp “, The Little Review, New York, vol. 9, n° 2, hiver 1922.

Henrie Waste, pseud. d’Henrietta, dite Ettie, Stettheimer (1874-1955)

[1977, article; 1984, livre] André Gervais (1947-)

Trop plein pollen, poèmes, revue Les Herbes rouges, Montréal, n° 23, 1974. Hom storm grom suivi de Pré prisme aire urgence, poèmes, Montréal, Éd. de l’Aurore, coll. ” Lecture en vélocipède “, 1975. Du muscle astérisque, proses, revue La Nouvelle Barre du jour, Montréal, série ” Auteur / e “, n° 180, 1986. La nuit se lève, poèmes et proses, avec un tableau de Bruno Santerre. Saint-Lambert, Éd. du Noroît, 1990. *******************

Elmer Ernest Southard (1876-1920)

” Mlle de l’escalier ” [novelette, dictée le 17 novembre 1916], dans Frederick P. Gay, The Open Mind. Elmer Ernest Southard 1876-1920, Chicago, Normandie House, 1938.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, dite The Baroness, née Elsa Hildegard Ploetz (1874-1927)

” Portrait de Marcel Duchamp “, The Little Review, New York, vol. 9, n° 2, hiver 1922.

Henrie Waste, pseud. d’Henrietta, dite Ettie, Stettheimer (1874-1955)

Cover of Littérature, André Breton (ed.), N° 5, 1er October, 1922

Robert Desnos (1900-1945)

Rrose Sélavy, [written October 1922-1923] [aphorisms]. Published in part in Littérature, new series: no. 7 (Paris, December 1, 1922); published in part (but with variation) in Corps et biens. Paris: Gallimard, 1930; coll. “Poésie / Gallimard.” Robert Lebel

[La double vue [written from November 1922 to December 1923]. In Corps et biens. Paris: Gallimard, 1930; coll. “Poésie / Gallimard.” click to enlarge

Robert Lebel, La Double Vue, Paris: Le Soleil noir, 1964

* Michel Butor

Passage de Milan (7), [written 1950-1951] [novel]. Paris: Minuit, 1954; coll. “10 / 18.” * Henri Pierre Roché

Victor, [written 1957] [novel, left unfinished]. Critical edition by Danielle Régnier-Bohler, preface and notes by Jean Clair. Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1977. * Jean Suquet

” Le scorpion et la rose. Paris: Bourgois, 1970. Tom Stoppard, pseud. de Thomas Straussler (1937-)

Artist Descending A Staircase [play]. Performed for the first time on the airwaves of the BBC, November 14, 1972; in Artist Descending A Staircase and Where Are They Now?, two plays for radio. London: Faber and Faber, 1973; Artiste descendant un escalier, adaptation in French by Élisabeth Janvier. Martel: Éd. du Laquet, coll. “Théâtre en poche,” 1998. click to enlarge

Henri Pierre Roché. Victor, vol. 4 of the four-volume publication issued for the exhibition “L’Oeuvre de Marcel Duchamp,” 31 January – 2 May, 1977. Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou

Claude Simon (1913-)

Triptyque, Paris: Minuit, 1973; Triptych. Translated by Helen R. Lane. New York: Viking Press, 1976. Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922-)

Topologie d’une cité fantôme (8), [novel]. Paris: Minuit, 1976; Topology of a Phantom City. Translated by J. A. Underwood. New York: Grove Press, 1977. Le miroir qui revient (9), Paris: Minuit, 1984; Ghosts in the Mirror. Translated by Jo Levy. London: J. Calder, 1988. Jacques Charlier (…-)

Rrose Melody, Liège: Association Art Promotion, 1977.. Bryan Ferry (…-)

The Bride Stripped Bare, [record]. EMI, 1978; [compact disc]. Virgin 47606-2 (distributed by EMI). * Michel Leiris

Le ruban au cou d’Olympia, Paris: Gallimard, 1981. Jean-François Vilar (1948-)

Le ruban au cou d’Olympia, Paris: Fayard, 1982; Paris: Éd. J’ai lu, coll. “Policier.” [1977, livre] Jennifer Gough-Cooper (…-) & Jacques Caumont (…-)

Rrose, sa vie sans cachotteries dépeinte […], [epic poem]. 1150 verses. Hautot-le- Vatois (Normandy, France): Académie de Muséologie Évocatoire, 1985. Michel Waldberg (1940-)

La boîte verte, Éd. de la Différence, 1995. Walter Henry, pseud. de Paul Braffort (…-)

Chu dans mer sale ouLa rumination polymorphe. Paris: la Bibliothèque oulipienne, no. 86, 1997. *********************** 3.Those who have published a literary work (novel, short story, poem, etc.) “in honor of” or “in partial honor of” Marcel Duchamp or his work; Note: Names preceded by an asterisk have already been listed in Section I.

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

” Love – chemical relationship” [poem]. Dedicated to Marcel Duchamp. In The Little Review, vol. 5, no. 2 (New York, June 1918). ” Mefk Maru Mustir Daas ” [poem]. Dedicated to Marcel Duchamp. In The Little Review, vol. 5, no. 8 (New York, December 1918). Francis Picabia

Pensées sans langage, [written from October (?) 1918 to March 1919] [poem in book form]. Dedicated thus: “Chers amis Gabrielle Buffet, Ribemont-Dessaignes, Marcel Duchamp, Tristan Tzara, je vous dédie ce poème en raison de notre sympathie élective.” (“My dear friends Gabrielle Buffet, Ribemont- Dessaignes, Marcel Duchamp, Tristan Tzara, I dedicate this poem to you because of our elective sympathy.”). Paris: Eugène Figuière, 1919; Écrits, Volume I: 1913-1920. Paris: Belfond, coll. “Les bâtisseurs du XXe siècle,” 1975. * André Breton

” À Rrose Sélavy “, [poem]. In Clair de terre. Paris: coll. “Littérature,” 1923; Earthlight, translated by Bill Zavatsky and Zack Rogow. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1993. click to enlarge Pierre de Massot. The Wonderful Book. Reflections on Rrose Sélavy (1924), in Étant donné Marcel Duchamp, n° 2, (Baby [France] February 2000), pp. 97~120

* Pierre de Massot

” Mode d’emploi ” [written June 8, 1923] [poem]. Dedicated to Rrose Sélavy: “pour Rrose Sélavy”]. In Poésie 1, no. 23: Jacques Baron, Pierre de Massot, Philippe Soupault: trois poètes surréalistes (Paris, March 1972); Étant donné Marcel Duchamp, no. 2, (Baby [France], February 2000).”Jeu du ‘dans’ ” [written in early 1950’s (?)] [poem]. Dedicated to Marcel Duchamp: “pour Marcel Duchamp “. In Poésie 1, no. 23: Jacques Baron, Pierre de Massot, Philippe Soupault: trois poètes surréalistes, (Paris, March 1972); Étant donné Marcel Duchamp, no. 2, (Baby [France], February 2000). The Wonderful Book. Reflections on Rrose Sélavy, Paris: hors commerce [Imprimerie Ravilly], s.d. [1924]; Étant donné Marcel Duchamp, no. 2, (Baby [France], February 2000). 5 poëmes [written from 1931 to 1946] [poems]. Dedicated to Marcel Duchamp : “À Marcel Duchamp.” With a portrait of the author by Francis Picabia. Paris: hors commerce [Imprimerie Gaschet et Cie], 1946. Louis Aragon (1897-1985)

” La force ” [poem]. Dedicated to Marcel Duchamp: “à Marcel Duchamp.” In Le mouvement perpétuel (poems 1921-1924). Paris: Gallimard, 1926. Georges Hugnet (1906-1974)

Marcel Duchamp [written November 8, 1939] [poem]. With a frontispiece by Marcel Duchamp. Paris: hors commerce, 1941. Kay Boyle (1902-1992)

Avalanche, [novel]. Dedicated in English and in French: “To Monsieur and Madame Rrose Sélavy .” New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. ” A complaint for Mary and Marcel.” In Collected poems. Port Townsend (Wa): Copper Canyon Press, 1970.. Henri-François Rey (1919-1987)

Les pianos mécaniques, [written (in Cadaquès) from March 1961 to February 1962](10)[novel]. Paris: Laffont, 1962; coll. “Le livre de poche”; The Mechanical Pianos. Translated by Peter Wiles. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965. David Young (1946-)

Agent provocateur, n[novel]. Dedicated in English: “For Marcel Duchamp.” Toronto: Coach House Press, 1976. *********************** click to enlarge

André Breton, Au Lavoir noir, Paris: Éditions G.L.M, 1936

4. Literary works “illustrated” by Marcel Duchamp (alone or in collaboration) or by Marcel Duchamp and another artist. Note: Names preceded by an asterisk have already been listed in Section I.

Alfred Jarry (1873-1907)

Ubu roi [1896], Paris: Fasquelle, 1921; Reliure pour “Ubu roi” d’Alfred Jarry [1935]. Designed by Marcel Duchamp and created by Mary Reynolds. Ubu roi [drama in five acts]. Translated by Barbara Wright. London: Gaberbocchus P., 1966; Ubu Rex. Translated by David Copelin. Vancouver: Pulp Press, 1977; in Three Pre-Surrealist Plays. Translated with an introduction and notes by Maya Slater. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. * André Breton Au lavoir noir, [poem]. With a window by Marcel Duchamp. Paris: GLM, coll. “Repères,” [January] 1936; Illustration pour “Au lavoir noir” d’André Breton (1935). Young Cherry Trees Secured Against Hares / Jeunes cerisiers garantis contre les lièvres [selection of poems]. Translated by Édouard Roditi, with drawings by Arshile Gorky. New York: View Editions, [March or April] 1946; Couverture pour “Young Cherry Trees Secured Against Hares” d’André Breton (1945-1946). click to enlarge

André Breton, Young Cherry Trees Secured against Hares, Edward Roditi (trans.), New York: View Editions, 1946

Georges Hugnet

La septième face du dé,[poems, paper cutouts]. Cover cigarettes by Marcel Duchamp. Paris: Éd. Jeanne Bucher, [May] 1936; Couverture pour “La septième face du dé” de Georges Hugnet (1936). Marcel Duchamp [written November 8, 1939] [poem]. With a frontispiece by Marcel Duchamp. Paris: hors commerce, 1941; Moustache et barbe de L.H.O.O.Q. (1941). Hebdomeros, Paris: Éd. du Carrefour, 1929; Reliure pour “Hebdomeros” de Giorgio de Chirico (1936-1939). Designed by Marcel Duchamp and created by Mary Reynolds. Francis Picabia

L’équilibre, [written in 1917] [poem]. With an engraving by Marcel Duchamp. Alès: PAB, [August] 1958. Pierre-André Benoit (1921-1993)

Première lumière, [poem]. With an engraving by Marcel Duchamp. Alès: PAB, [August] 1959. click images to enlarge

Georges Hugnet, La septiéme face du dé, Paris: Éditions Jeanne Bucher, 1936

Georges Hugnet, Marcel Duchamp, a poem and front piece with Moustache et barbe de L.H.O.O.Q. (1941) by Duchamp, Paris: Hors Commerce, 1941 *Pierre de Massot

Tiré à quatre épingles, [poems]. With an engraving by Marcel Duchamp. Alès: PAB, [Summer] 1959. Marcel Duchamp. Propos et souvenirs, With a rectified readymade, in color, by Marcel Duchamp. Milan: chez Arturo Schwarz, 1965; L.H.O.O.Q. (replica, September 1964); Étant donné Marcel Duchamp, no. 2 (Baby [France] February 2000). * Arturo Schwarz

Il Reale Assoluto, [poems]. In Italian. With eleven lithographies by Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. Milan: Galleria Schwarz, 1964; Certificat de lecture (February-March 1964). click images to enlarge

Pierre-André Benoit, Première lumière, Alès: PAB, 1959 Pierre de Massot, Tiré à quatre épingles, Alès: PAB, 1959 * Robert Lebel

La double vue suivi de L’inventeur du temps gratuit, With an etched diptych by Alberto Giacometti and a folding by Marcel Duchamp (in the first 111 exemplary copies), with an etching by Ferró (in the next 150 exemplary copies). Paris: le Soleil noir, 1964; La pendule de profil (1964). E-mail André Gervais with suggestions and comments: [email protected]

Notes

1. This retrospective contains Mont de piété [1919, with two drawings by André Derain], Clair de terre [1923, with a portrait by Pablo Picasso], L’union libre [1931], Le revolver à cheveux blancs [1932, with an etching by Salvador Dali], Violette Nozières [1933], L’air de l’eau [1934, with four engravings by Alberto Giacometti] and Au lavoir noir [1936, with a window by Marcel Duchamp].

2. This retrospective contains [Poèmes 1935-1940], Pleine marge [1943, with an etching by Kurt Seligmann], Fata morgana [1941, with four drawings by Wilfredo Lam], [Poèmes 1940-1943], Les états généraux [1944], Des épingles tremblantes [1948], Xénophiles [1948], Ode à Charles Fourier [1947], Oubliés [1948], Constellations [1959, with 22 gouaches by Juan Miró] and Le la [1961, with a lithograph by Jean Benoît]. 3. This retrospective contains, in whole or in part, the following brief, small books: Soliloque de Nausicaa [1928, with five drawings by Jean Cocteau], 5 poëmes [1946, with a portrait of the author by Francis Picabia], Orestie [1949], Mot clé des mensonges [1954], Galets abandonnés sur la page [1958, with an etching by Jacques Villon] and Tiré à quatre épingles [1959, with an engraving by Marcel Duchamp], to which is added Prison de neige, poems written from 1960 to 1961.

4. This recent retrospective adds to the preceding several other poems as well as a study and a biography.

5. This retrospective contains the following books: Simulacre [1925], Le point cardinal [1927], Glossaire: j’y serre mes gloses [1939 (begun in 1925), with some lithographies by André Masson], Bagatelles végétales [1956, with six engravings by Juan Miró] and Marrons sculptés pour Miró [1961, with a color lithograph by Juan Miró]. The Glossaire… has a continuation: Langage tangage ou Ce que les mots me disent [Paris: Gallimard, 1985].

6. On the jacket flap: “Manuscripts chosen by scissor cuts, photographs most often in black and white, articles lost among dead papers, dialogues in person, winking at some friends, retracing the voyage without a clock or a compass.” 7. Michel Butor, during the discussion following the paper of Patrice Quéréel on this book, as part of a colloquium on Butor’s work (June 24 – July 1, 1973), made this clear: “In regard to that which concerns the ideological machinery of State, I have been constantly reminded, while listening to you, of Marcel Duchamp: there was in the way you see these institutions the model of the Large Glass by Marcel Duchamp who is evoked in various manners in this book.” This in Butor. Colloque de Cerisy, under the direction of Georges Raillard, (Paris: UGÉ [coll. “10 / 18,” no. 902] 1974), p. 84.

8. Georges Raillard, in “Mots de passe. Quelques notes prises au cours d’une traversée difficile: La belle captive [1976],” (Obliques, Les Pilles, no. 16-17, Robbe-Grillet, 4th Quarter 1978), quotes the dedication from the author on an exemplary copy of Topologie…: ” quelque chose comme mon Grand Verre .” [“Something like my Large Glass. “]

9. Georges Raillard calls “Le Grand Verre de Robbe-Grillet ” [La Quinzaine littéraire, no. 432, (Paris, January 16-31, 1985)] his critique of the first volume of this “robbegrilletian autobiography,” of which the general title is Romanesques.

10. This novel contains only a brief allusion to Duchamp who, from 1958 to 1968, spent one or more months in the spring or summer in this catalan village. Bicycles With Elephant Memories Stolen From Our Oasis When We Were The Most Thirsty

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A PERFORMANCE FOR NEW YORK CITY (Sunday April 30th, 2000)

In the April of this year artist, Patrick Grenier performed a new work on the streets of New York City which converged several ideas about memory, loss, vulnerability and reconciliation. The concept was inspired by Duchamp’s sculpture,Large Glass; a poem by Alfred Jarry titled, The Passion Considered as a Bicycle Race; Grenier’s observation of a thief carrying Duchamp’s modified readymadeBicycle Wheel just stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in 1995, over the Brooklyn Bridge; conversations he had with Duchamp’s last assistant, Robert Barnes; the theft of three of his own bicycles; and his interest in the ability of elephants to remember things over a long period of time. The idea of bicycles possessing elephant memories alludes to the idea that possessions are imbibed with the owner’s energies and when that item is taken, its spirit stays with you, as he believes your own spirit leaves with the object stolen.

Grenier along with two other performers rode on vintage bicycles, similar in design to the one drawn on the page of sheet music in Duchamp’s 1914 drawing To Have the Apprentice in the Sun, from the front square of the Brooklyn Museum to the Museum of Modern Art making a total of twelve stops at locations related to the artist for on- site short action performances. The cyclists wore stylized costumes inspired by the work of Duchamp, Jarry and the physiognomy of elephants. Some of the props for the on-site actions included, a bicycle made of thorn branches, a unique chess board with pieces derived from peanut forms and bicycle parts, shadows of bicycles cut out of black velvet, melted chocolate and raw peanuts.

Bicycles are powered by human engines. Muscles and bones work with rubber and metal to become one machine.

CREDITS:

Cyclists: Patrick Grenier as “Peanut” Mary Noll as “Padlock” Claire Pertalion as “Bicycle Wheel” Video: Drew Cerria 8mm FILM: Michael DeRoker 35mm Stills: Laura Moss Driver: Julio Lopez Production Assistant: Tia Shin Photographs: Laura Moss © 2005 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris. All rights reserved.

Dreaming with Open Eyes:The Vera, Silvia and Arturo Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

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. . . . and may I, who am still searching for something in this world, be left with open eyes, or with closed eyes in broad daylight, to my silent contemplation. André Breton, Le surréalisme et la peinture, 1928

The vast collection of works donated by the Milanese scholar, poet, and collector Arturo Schwarz as a gift to the Israel Museum at the beginning of 1998 was an offering of unique scope and importance. Consisting of about 750 works by approximately 200 artists in a variety of styles and techniques, the Vera, Silvia, and Arturo Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art constitutes the major part of the total collection amassed by Arturo Schwarz. (The other parts are to be found in the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.) This is one of the world’ s greatest collections of Dada and Surrealist art, and since its addition to the Museum’s existing holdings, which include the collector’s extensive library, the Israel Museum has become a global center for the study and display of these two seminal movements in modern art.*

Arturo Schwarz’ s connection with the Israel Museum began in 1972, when he gave the museum a set of thirteen replicas of Marcel Duchamp’s readymades. During the Gulf War of 1991, he decided to donate most of his collection and his entire library to the Israel Museum, and already in 1992 we received the vast library containing more than a thousand items, including limited- edition books, many with original prints, and full runs of Dada and Surrealist periodicals, as well as documents, manifestos, and Schwarz’ s extensive personal correspondence with the movements’ leading figures.

Arturo Schwarz was born in 1924 in Alexandria, Egypt, to Jewish parents: a German father and an Italian mother. In his youth, he was very active in clandestine political circles. At first he was affiliated with the Zionist movement and spent several months on a kibbutz in Palestine; later he became involved in a Trotskyist group in Alexandria. At the same time Schwarz made the acquaintance of the Egyptian Surrealists and from 1945 to 1948 ran a publishing company and a bookstore. Arrested several times for his political activities, he was expelled from the country in 1949. He settled in Milan, where he founded another publishing house and, at the beginning of the 1950s, opened a bookstore which later developed into Galleria Schwarz, which closed in 1975. The gallery held exhibitions of the best Dada and Surrealist artists and of contemporary artists throughout the world. Simultaneously, Schwarz wrote poetry, published scholarly books such as a catalogue raisonné of the works of Marcel Duchamp, gave lectures and organized international Dada and Surrealist exhibitions. His intense involvement in the Surrealist movement and his personal acquaintance with many of its members made him a leading authority on its history.

Arturo Schwarz wrote that “Dada was the first movement in the history of art to liberate the creative process from the shackles of rules and academisms . . . and in Surrealism I discovered a philosophy of life whose cardinal points – love, freedom and poetry – coincided with my own. I have thus never seen myself as an ‘art collector’ but rather as a convinced Surrealist, keen to acquire the works which were inspired by my own convictions.” Indeed, the imprint of his life and personality is manifest in the collection he assembled for years, and the personal portrait reflected in it reveals a combination of two seemingly opposite forces: a romantic-surrealistic vision of imagination, dreams, and love is countered by the critical eye of a scholar and historian who wishes to investigate, to document, and to explain. On the one hand, there is a passion for collection and a spirit of adventure; on the other, methodical assemblage and scholarly classification. Schwarz’s deep conviction that Surrealism is not only an artistic-stylistic trend but a universal spiritual and ideological manifestation that seeks “to break the habit of looking at things in the same way, to revolutionize our vision” is evident in his desire to capture and document every cultural, geographical, and historical aspect of the phenomenon. Thus, his collection contains oil paintings alongside photographic portraits, and books of poetry next to documents, representing a range from Europe to South America and from the sixteenth century to the present. His selection disregards both conventional aesthetic distinctions and any accepted hierarchy of major and secondary works or important and unimportant artists. The result is an encyclopedic cultural mosaic that is impressive and astonishing, especially if one takes into account that it is the lifework of a single individual. Schwarz has explained his criteria by saying, “It is not physical beauty that interests me; it is spiritual beauty and the idea behind it, and when it is strong enough it becomes physical beauty, but not the other way round.” click to enlarge video2(1.4mb) Marcel Duchamp, Female Fig Leaf, 1950/1951 © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris

At the end of the year 2000, the Museum will present a major sampling of the Vera, Silvia, and Arturo Schwarz Collection to the public for the first time. Combining Schwarz’s insight and personal approach to collecting with a museological, historical presentation of Dada and Surrealist art, the exhibition Dreaming with Open Eyes will feature 350 representative works in a variety of techniques – paintings, drawings, collages, prints, photographs, sculptures, and readymades – along with dozens of items from the unique library of periodicals, documents, and books. A short introductory film presents the life story of Arturo Schwarz through personal photographs and excerpts from interviews. Using contemporary design language, the exhibition conveys the radical spirit of these two movements. Occupying several galleries, it is arranged by topic as well as in historical order, largely reflecting the main divisions of the original collection.

“Dada Doesn’t Mean Anything” The Dada movement, which came into being in Europe and the United States in protest at the horrors of the First World War, rebelled against artistic convention and sought to subvert the existing social and political order. The works exhibited, whose main source is the legacy of one of the leaders of Dada, Tristan Tzara, represent the oeuvre of such major artists as Marcel Janco, Jean Arp, Raoul Hausmann, Max Ernst, Francis Picabia, and Kurt Schwitters. Mainly drawings and collages, they exemplify typical elements of Dada: the accidental, the absurd, protest, and criticism. The Dadaists’ desire to fuse life and art and to embrace all areas of creativity is reflected in the accompanying display of their radical periodicals and manifestos, together with excerpts from the early films of Hans Richter.

The Chess Players: Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray click to see video video3(1mb)

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Marcel Duchamp,Pocket Chess Set, 1943/1961~64© 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris The revolutionary work of Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray had a profound influence on Dada and Surrealist artists and on later trends in twentieth-century art. Arturo Schwarz began to correspond with Marcel Duchamp in the early 1950s and through him made the acquaintance of Man Ray. He demonstrated his deep appreciation of these two artists and his devotion to them by arranging exhibitions, producing series of readymades, acquiring dozens of their works and writing authoritative scholarly books about them. The seventy works by these two artists in the exhibition, which demonstrate their conceptual approach and bear witness to their fertile imaginations, are replete with irreverence, iconoclasm, humor, playfulness, sexuality, and eroticism. click to enlarge video5(1.5mb) Marcel Duchamp, In the Manner of Delvaux, 1942 © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris

“Pure Psychic Automatism”: Surrealism The ideologues of the Surrealist movement, whose conceptual platform was formulated by André Breton in the First Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, wished to develop patterns of thought and expression which would lay bare an inner irrational and subconscious reality like that revealed in dreams, psychoanalysis, and the drawings of children and the insane. Surrealist artists experimented with automatism as a basic principle of random and unmediated creativity, and with illusory dream images in fantastic forms and surprising combinations. In this part of the exhibition, there is a rich collection of more than a hundred works from various periods. Among the artists exhibited are some of the members of the original circle of the Surrealist movement in the 1920s and ’30s, such as André Breton, Joan Miró, Yves Tanguy, André Masson, and Max Ernst, and others who were influenced by it and joined after the Second World War, like Victor Brauner, Wifredo Lam, and Matta. A prominent place is occupied by women artists like Claude Cahun, Remedios Varo, Kay Sage, Dorothea Tanning, and Meret Oppenheim. The works on show illustrate the variety of methods used by the artists to liberate their imaginations from the domination of the critical consciousness, ranging from automatic drawing, collage, and photomontage to collective drawings, dream pictures, and assemblage.

“The Sleep of Reason”: Forerunners of Surrealism From the very beginning of the Surrealist movement, writers and artists turned to the works of the past for inspiration and affirmation. In art and literature, they did, in fact, find evidence of a timeless interest in dreams, the supernatural, the magical, and the irrational. In the art of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque, these elements were to be found in such subjects as the Apocalypse, monsters, alchemical symbols, scenes of temptation, and erotica, and in grotesque and hybrid images. From the beginning of Romanticism in the eighteenth century to the Symbolist movement in the nineteenth, the taste for fantasy and the irrational grew stronger: the industrial era gave rise to anxiety and to a longing for a mystical, otherworldly experience. Like Breton and others, Arturo Schwarz assembled examples of pre- Surrealist works characterized, as he said, by “their spiritual attitude toward the marvelous – as well as their subversive element.” This variegated collection includes paintings, prints, and drawings dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth century by artists such as Dürer, Goya, Moreau, and Redon, along with tribal masks and artifacts from Africa, Oceania, and North America. click to enlarge Click to see video

Talking Heads: The Library Portraits of Surrealist artists and writers immortalized by their photographer and painter colleagues constitute a separate section, which Arturo Schwarz calls “memorabilia.” These works have a special value, apart from their documentary and historical importance, in that they shed light on the personal relationship between the artist who depicts and the person depicted. The collection of portraits is combined with a selection of Dada and Surrealist books illustrated with original prints. There are also artists’ books in special editions by Max Ernst, Man Ray, Masson, Picabia, and others, and books produced jointly by pairs of artists like Tristan Tzara and Jean Arp, Benjamin Péret and Yves Tanguy, Robert Desnos and Pablo Picasso, and Paul Eluard and Man Ray. The collaboration between artists manifested in these portraits and books illustrates the intellectual ferment of Surrealism and the spiritual bond that existed among the members of the movement.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a comprehensive 250-page catalogue, which includes an illustrated inventory of all the works in the Vera, Silvia, and Arturo Schwarz Collection in the Israel Museum. An exploration of a perennially fascinating subject, Dreaming with Open Eyes promises to be one of the Museum’s most important and enlightening exhibitions as we begin the new millennium.

* For more on the collector and his gifts to the Israel Museum, see The Israel Museum Journal XVI (1998): 61-70.

Installation views of the exhibition’s Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray section click images to enlarge The Vera, Silvia and Arturo Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art, Israel Museum, Israel, 2000

Marcel Duchamp –Étant donnés: Det Dekonstruerede Maleri (The Deconstructed Painting)

Picasso (1881-1973) og Duchamp (1887-1968) var stort set samtidige. De levede begge længe og havde begge en stærk tilknytning til Paris og den europæiske modernisme – og de kaldes begge for “det 20. århundredes kunstner”. Alligevel udviklede de sig til at blive næsten kunstneriske modpoler.

Duchamps navn er velkendt og højt estimeret indenfor kunstens og kunstinstitutionens indercirkler, men mindre kendt i de mere perifere kunstinteresserede cirkler. En af årsagerne hertil er nok at Duchamps livsværk er ret begrænset i omfang og at størstedelen af hans værker desuden er samlet på et enkelt museum i Philadelphia, U.S.A. Dette betyder at det for eksempel ikke er muligt at studere nogle af Duchamps værker i original (eller replica) noget sted i Danmark.

Derimod er Picassos navn kendt af næsten enhver. Malerierne flød fra Picassos hånd, og ethvert moderne museum med respekt for sig selv har Picasso repræsenteret ved et eller flere værker. Virtuost valfarter Picasso gennem modernismens mange ismer, og menneskeskikkelsen forbliver et vedvarende udgangspunkt for hovedparten af hans malerier. Men selvom Picasso aldrig abstraherer sig fuldstændigt fra virkeligheden, så er hans kunst dog alligevel næsten ensbetydende med det moderne, abstrakte maleri. For Picasso abstraherer sig, gennem diverse stilarter, fra virkelighedens motiver, og gør selve maleriet, eller stilen, til det egentlige motiv. click to enlarge Figure 1a viser Étant donnés front, døren,© 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris

Duchamp var også oprindeligt maler, og ligesom Picasso har han valfartet gennem diverse af modernismens mange maleriske ismer. Fauvisme, kubisme og futurisme er betegnelser som kan tilknyttes Duchamps tidlige malerier. Og ligesom for Picassos vedkommende er menneskeskikkelsen næsten altid i fokus, som motiv eller udgangspunkt, for hans tidlige malerier og senere værker. Men Duchamp ender med at eller vende ryggen til maleriet. For i stedet for at abstrahere sig fra motivet – som hovedparten af Duchamps malerkolleger er i færd med – abstraherer Duchamp sig fra maleriets grundplan (og dermed fra kunsten som den traditionelt er blevet forstået). click to enlarge Figure 1b viser det indre af Étant donnés. © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris

Étant donnés (dansk:det Givne) er Duchamps sidste større værk. Det er fremstillet i hemmelighed i en årrække efter 2. verdenskrig – fra 1946 til 1966 – og blev efter Duchamps død i 1968 permanent installeret på Philadelphia Museum of Art, i Philadelphia, U.S.A. Étant donnés må derfor kunne ses som Duchamps kunstneriske testamente, hans konklusion på kunsten. Værkets gamle trædør, Étant donnés umiddelbare “facade”, møder beskueren i et lille rum bagved det store lyse udstillingsrum, hvor museets øvrige Duchamp-værker er at finde. Det lille rum er en slags “blindtarm” på det store rum – det er ikke et gennemgangsrum, og indeholder ved første øjekast blot døren – bag hvilken den øvrige del af værket er installeret. Når man træder ind i det lille rum og kigger til venstre, ser man en stukkeret mur, der udstrækker sig fra gulv til loft og fra væg til væg. I centrum af denne stukvæg er en stor buet murstensdørkarm, der danner rammen om den gamle trædør. Det er tydeligt at døren ikke kan åbnes, men i midten af døren, ved øjenhøjde, er to små kighuller(1).

Værket var udgangspunkt for mit cand. phil. speciale, og denne artikel kan ses som en kort introduktion til de teser, problemer og konklusioner jeg rejser i relation til Duchamps Étant donnés. Jeg tog udgangspunkt i værkets fysiske fremtrædelsesform, og anvendte hertil de skitser af værket som den franske filosof Jean- François Lyotard har fremstillet til sin bog Les TRANS formateurs Duchamp.

Figure 2 viser et tværsnit af perspektivkassekonstruktionen Étant donnés Illustrationen er oprindeligt fremstillet af Lyotard, men benævnelserne på de forskellige niveauer af Étant donnés er tilføjet af denne artikels forfatter. Jeg vil her især fremhæve afsnittet om billedplanet, da mange facts tyder på at netop dette niveau af værket er meget væsentligt(2). I afsnittet om billedplanet undersøger jeg først det historiske billedplan og den særlige status, som maleriet erhverver i renæssancen. Derefter undersøger jeg billedplanets status i den moderne epoke, hvor maleriet frigør sig fra sin tidligere bundethed til historie, litteratur, rum og motiv m.v. Derefter vender jeg tilbage til det billedplan som Duchamp har nedbrudt i Étant donnés, samt til de værker der relaterer sig til denne nedbrydning.

Mit udgangspunkt for overhovedet at fokusere på Duchamps Étant donnés i første omgang, opstod oprindeligt i forbindelse med mine studier af optik og perspektiv. Derfor kan min afhandling også ses i relation til den debat der har cirkuleret omkring perspektivet og spørgsmålene om perspektivets objektivitet. I modsætning til blandt andre Norman Bryson, opskriver jeg med Duchamp det perspektiviske blik, the Gaze, og jeg de-konstruerer i relation hertil den klassiske perspektivkonstruktion.

En anden årsag til min interesse for netop dette værk udspringer af værkets negative status. Duchamp-forskerne har ofte ignoreret værket, eller ofret det mindre opmærksomhed end for eksempel the Large Glass (dansk: det Store Glas). I modsætning til mange af Duchamp forskerne – anser jeg Étant donnés for at være Duchamps mesterværk. Ja, – jeg ser værket som en af kunsthistoriens mesterværker. Det er et af de mest udfordrende kunstværker der overhovedet findes – med egne ord:“the most thrilling work of art”(3).

Værket udformer sig ikke bare som en konklusion på Duchamps livsværk. Det kan også ses som en konklusion på kunstens tilstand i det 20. århundrede – i mere generel forstand. Étant donnés er – i forhold til the Large Glass – langt nærmere på det fuldkomne anti-kunstværk. For iÉtant donnés lykkes det for Duchamp at fremstille et værk der ikke er et kunstværk (a work which is not a work of “art”) – eller rettere sagt – så lykkes det der ser ud til at være Duchamps livslange projekt endelig til fuldkommenhed med dette værk. Og dette paradoksale projekt synes at gå ud på at fremstille et billede uden billedplan, eller et maleri uden lærred, hvilket er præcis det modsatte af hvad Duchamps samtidige malerkolleger er i færd med. (Duchamps samtidige malerkolleger, for eksempel Picasso, abstraherer i stigende grad deres malerier fra det traditionelle motiv. De favoriserer billedplanet eller det todimensionale lærred på bekostning af perspektiv og rum(illusion). I modsætning hertil kan man sige at Duchamp favoriserer “perspektivet” – eller det perspektiviske blik, the gaze – på bekostning af billedplanet eller lærredet.

En readymade kan i relation hertil ses som et motiv der ikke er omsat i mediet kunst. I relation til maleri kan en readymade sammenstilles med et realistisk perspektivmaleri eller et fotografi. Mange af disse readymades har da også en frontalitet, der appellerer til et fotografisk blik.(4)

Projektets begyndelsesfase kan allerede studeres i the Large Glass – hvis gennemsigtige glas- billedplan næsten er forsvundet. Den er der dog stadigvæk som grundplan for værkets nedlagte figurer eller formationer. For beskueren ser ikke blot igennem the Large Glass, men må også samtidig se på glasset. Der er derfor stadig meget af Duchamps gamle malerier i the Large Glass og billedplanet er endnu ikke fuldt ud negeret(5). click to enlarge

Large Glass, der blev fremstillet i årene 1915-23. Her er det fotograferet i Katherine Dreiers dagligstue.

Derimod er “maleriets” billedplan i bogstaveligste forstand forsvundet i Étant donnés, hvor Duchamp først bygger værkets billedplan op som en mørk mur – for derefter at nedbryde eller negere den.

Men hvorfor har Duchamp følt denne trang til at negere billedplanet? Hvad er meningen? Og er der ikke mange andre betydningsfulde “detaljer” at studere i værket? Jo, det er der naturligvis, men jeg holder på at denne “detalje”, denne nedbrydning af billedplanet – som oftest overses – idet man har set “igennem” billedplanet eller værket – faktisk er værkets vigtigste “detalje” og Duchamps hovedformål med værket. Når jeg kalder Étant donnés for et dekonstrueret maleri, så er det en henvisning til den konstruktion, Étant donnés, ved hvis hjælp Duchamp dekonstruerer en anden konstruktion – tydeligst det traditionelle perspektivmaleri. I et sådant maleri er lagene eller niveauerne lagt ovenpå hinanden, så de “smelter” sammen til et niveau, der materialiserer sig ved hjælp af billedplanet. Når man betragter et sådant perspektivmaleri vil man på et mere illusionistisk plan opleve at billedet udvider sig bagved planet, bag “Albertis vindue”, og der blotlægger – om ikke altid et realistisk virkelighedsbillede – så dog noget der har et temmelig overbevisende realismepræg. Det abstrakte maleri kan ikke dekonstrueres på samme bogstavelige måde som perspektivmaleriet kan – idet den “rumlighed”, som det abstrakte maleri – trods sin tilstræbte fladhed – ofte postulerer, er af en mere “åndelig” eller “usynlig” art. Alligevel vil jeg påstå at det abstrakte maleri i allerhøjeste grad indgår som et “led” eller en “side” af dette dekonstruerede maleri, dette visuelle opslagsværk(6). Faktisk er det som om det netop er udviklingen af det moderne abstrakte maleri, og konsekvensen af dette maleri, der har været Duchamps udgangspunkt for Étant donnés.

Det er en kendt sag at Duchamp afskyede det “retinale” eller meget “maleriske”maleri, som for eksempel kommer til udtryk i den abstrakte ekspressionisme. Dette moderne og emanciperede maleri har frigjort sig fra alt andet end sit eget grundplan og sit eget materiale, som derved synliggøres. Men derved har det abstrakte maleri også frigjort sig fra alt det der tidligere kunne appellere til “the grey matter” – til tolkning. Denne udvikling må Duchamp se som alt andet end “frigørende”. Og det abstrakte maleri gør sig heller ikke fri af sin største konvention – det gør sig ikke fri af sit grundplan eller af billedplanet, men accentuerer det derimod.

I Étant donnés frigør Duchamp værket fra billedplanet – men han gør det på det perspektiviske bliks betingelser. Han ærer derved det intelligente øjes potentiale – men på en måde der overskrider det gamle perspektivmaleris muligheder. I det gamle perspektivmaleri havde “perspektiv” og billedplan indgået et forlig! Perspektivbilledet var fikseret til billedplanet – på bestemte betingelser. I Étant donnés er der ikke noget der på forhånd er fikseret til lærred, træ eller væg. Det er kun beskueren der kan “fiksere” billedet (eller maleriet). Derfor giver værket ingen mening eller betydning uden denne beskuer. Billedet (eller maleriet) eksisterer kun i beskuerens sind. Og da der ikke er noget fælles eller fast billede fikseret nogen steder, kan der heller ikke være nogen fælles tolkning(7).

Étant donnés er et kompliceret og anarkistisk værk, der på mange niveauer udsender meddelelser eller indbyder til associationer. Desværre er det ikke i denne artikel muligt for mig at yde hverken værket eller mit arbejde med værket fuld retfærdighed. Jeg vil dog nævne et andet aspekt af værket der også er blevet “overset”. IÉtant donnés er kunstværkets ekshibitionistiske element overdrevet – idet billedet så at sige afslører sine nøgne kønsorganer ved et overraskelsesangreb – ligesom ekshibitionisten gør. Dette kan kun ses som en kommentar til alle maleriers, eller alle kunstværkers, iboende ekshibitionisme, ogÉtant donnés kan derfor ses som et yderliggående alternativ til det selvabsorberede abstrakte maleri. Det abstrakte maleri havde vendt ryggen til beskueren og blokeret for sin traditionelle mediefunktion – og derved også fra sin egen beskuers indsigt eller tolkning.

Det er tankevækkende at værket er fremstillet i årene efter 2. verdenskrig, atomvåbenkapløbet ihukommende. Étant donnés kan ses som et “kunstens (og dermed civilisationens) vanitas maleri”. Og derved må Duchamp først og fremmest kritisere den kunstige (moderne) kunst – altså den kunst der kun har sig selv som motiv. Værket ærer det Givne eller naturen og negerer det kunstige eller menneskeskabte. Det er et selvkritisk og meget melankolsk værk. Men derved negerer det ikke beskuerens oplevelse af værket. Beskueren bliver derimod værkets (med)skaber og fortolker.

I Étant donnés har Duchamp udtrykt sig “sprogligt” ved at opstille fuldstændigt genkendelige elementer eller tegn (døren, nøgenfiguren, landskabet m.v.), der appellerer til aflæsning. Denne intellektuelle udfordring må også være et af værkets væsentligste aspekter – for Étant donnés er et kunstværk – på trods af sin modvilje overfor kunsten og det menneskeskabte. DuchampsÉtant donnés foregriber den “Return of the Real”, som vi er vidne til i nutidskunsten. Ligesom Étant donnés åbner meget af nutidskunsten op for en overflod af (relativistiske) tolkninger. På mange måder kan Étant donnés ses som en “hybrid” – en sammensmeltning mellem det gamle perspektivmaleri og den nutidige installationskunst. Den nutidige installationskunst kan derfor ses som det gamle perspektivmaleris naturlige arvtager(8).

Noter

1. Beskrivelsen af mødet med døren bygger på egne iagtagelser, da jeg to gange – i juli 1998 og i februar 1999 – har besøgt museet. Jeg vil ikke i denne artikel inkludere overvejelser over den strategi der synes at være udtænkt i forbindelse med værkets placering på museet. Jeg reflekterer heller ikke her over forskellige beskuertyper og deres eventuelle forhåndskendskab til værket og heller ikke over forskellige voyeuristiske aspekter af værket.

2. Selvom Étant donnés tydeligvis har meget at gøre med perspektiv og også er blevet erkendt som en perspektivkassekonstruktion, så er der så vidt jeg ved ikke nogen der har hæftet sig ved at den mørke murstensmur fungerer som værkets billedplan. For eksempel beskriver den spanske forsker Juan Antonio Ramírez i bogenDuchamp, Love and Death, Even (1993), ikke muren som andet end “the Brick (or holed) Wall“. Reaktion Books, London, 1998.

3. Det har ikke været min primære hensigt at hylde Étant donnés på bekostning af the Large Glass… men værket trænger til en kærlig hånd, en opskrivning. I mammutværket Downcast Eyes omtaler historikeren Martin Jay den negative holdning til værket der er (eller har været) almindelig blandt Duchamp forskerne, men beskriver desuden værket på en mere positiv måde: “To its detractors the Étant donnés is little more than another of Duchamp’s hoaxes, “the ultimate bluff against art and the whole superstructure, an obscene diorama pawned off on a reputable museum because of the reputation of the “artist” and the brilliant literary apparatus lending it prestige.” To those less hostile, it represents Duchamp’s most profound exploration of the troubled confluence of vision and desire.” Citat fra Martin Jay, Downcast Eyes, The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-century French Thought, p. 169, University of California Press, 1994.

4. Rosalind Krauss har også bemærket readymaden og snapshot’ets parallellitet, og hun skriver: “the readymade’s parallel with the photograph is etablished by its process of production. It is about the physical transposition of an object from the continuum of reality into the fixed condition of the art-image by a moment of isolation or selection.” Krauss:The Originality of the Avantgarde and other Modernist Myths, p. 206, Cambridge Massachusett and London, 1993.

5. Den franske forsker Jean Clair har i artiklen “Duchamp and the classical perspectivists” gjort opmærksom på Duchamps interesse for de gamle perspektivtraktater. Han skriver: “An obvious fact which need to be stressed is that by substituting a plate of glass for an opaque canvas spreed on a stretcher as support, Duchamp was doing no more than applying the analysis of the classical perspectivists to the letter in making a real “parrete di vetro” (wall of glass).” Jean Clair viser tillige, hvordan Duchamps the Large Glass synes at illustrere perspektivtraktaterne, i selve designet af glasset, både i ikonografiske detaljer og i kompositionen. Citat fra Art Forum, Marts 1978, p. 40-49.

6. Når jeg kalder værket et dekonstrueret maleri og et visuelt opslagsværk, så skyldes det værkets fremtrædelsesform, der kan iagtages som leddelt eller som noget der er splittet fra hinanden. Jeg følger egentlig blot den dekonstruktion Duchamp allerede har foretaget, og derfor skal denne dekonstruktion ikke sammenstilles for nøje med Derridas filosofiske dekonstruktion. Når jeg kalder værket for et opslagsværk, skyldes det ligeledes værkets leddeling. Hvert led i værket synes at udsende en talestrøm – der i relation til udviklingen af maleriet i det 20. århundrede, kan aflæses eller tolkes på bestemte måder samtidig med at værket i bogstaveligste forstand er åbent for fortolkninger.

7. Étant donnés har da også givet anledning til diverse fantasifulde tolkninger, og nogle af disse er blevet afvist som “forkerte”. Jeg mener dog ikke at det er meningen at de skal afvises. I mit speciale har jeg studeret Duchamps interesse for stereoskopi og anamorfoser. Den tidligere nævnte franske forsker Jean Clair har beskrevet det stereoskopiske billedes særlige karakter: “Because it has no material reality it does not permit symbolic exchange.” Sammensmeltningen af det stereoskopiske billedes to moderbilleder eksisterer også kun i beskuerens sind, hvilket må have fascineret og inspireret Duchamp. Jean Clair: Opticeries, October 5, Summer 1978.

8. Sætningen “The Return of the Real” er en henvisning til Hal Fosters bog af samme navn. Foster: The Return of the Real, the Avant- Garde at the End of the Century, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996.

Pata or Quantum: Duchamp and the End of Determinist Physics

The early 20th Century saw a breakdown, a deconstruction if you will, of the classical Enlightenment assertion that the world is fundamentally knowable to us. In the art and philosophy of the Enlightenment era, the rational capacity of the human mind to analyze and comprehend itself and the world was trusted implicitly. In science, the classical Newtonian physical model was the dominant paradigm. This model held that given sufficient knowledge of a physical system’s initial state, its behavior could be understood and predicted completely. Everything in the world that was hidden or obscured could in theory be explained and brought to light by the proper application of human reasoning. But beginning with mathematical thinking in geometry done in the 1860s, these enlightenment ideals began to lose their hold on the world of ideas. Work done in physics, psychology and art began to reformulate a picture of reality that was less certain, and involved more risks.

The current of ideas that carried modern thought away from this determinist position was varied and complex, spanning many disciplines and years. This essay is an attempt to explore some connections and parallels between the art of Marcel Duchamp and developments in modern physics that question the existence of a rational, predictable world. As part of Duchamp’s work, he created fictional, quasi-scientific systems that he worked into his visual designs. Calling these playful systems “pataphysics,” he used the current scientific thinking of the time in a satiric way, making fun of rational, determinist systems and celebrating interesting new developments that cast doubt on traditional thinking. The most complex of these systems is described in The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, also known as the Large Glass (begun in 1912). Important insights can also be drawn from 3 Standard Stoppages (1914) and the theories inherent to the Readymades (executed between 1913 and 1917).

The scientific groundwork for some of Duchamp’s ideas in these works comes from investigations of non-Euclidean geometries, concepts of 4th dimensional space, work done on x-rays, radiation, and electro-magnetism. Later developments in science, especially the foundations of modern quantum mechanics, continue the trend of less deterministic ways of viewing reality, almost re- iterating some of Duchamp’s playful science fiction as science fact. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle contextualizes scientific measurement, considering the impact of the viewer on the object being viewed, and introduces an irreducible uncertainty as to the exact energy states of basic particles. Erwin Schrödinger’s set of quantum equations (which links the particle/wave behaviors of electrons, photons, and other particles) expresses their movements in terms of statistical probability fields, such that it becomes meaningless to talk of the particle as having a distinct position at any given time.

This breaking down of assumptions concerning the predictable, rational behavior of the world in Duchamp’s work and in the sciences shares traits with several movements that emerged in and around World War I. Groups like the Cubists, the Futurists and the Dadaists shared a mission of transforming perceptions of the world in order to change how people relate to the world. While it can be difficult to interpret the true intent of the (often contradictory) manifestos and performances of the Dada group, we may try to deduce some valuable structures from their story. Rebelling against the rationalist social structures responsible for the devastating war, Dadaists attempted to create new languages for artistic (or even anti-artistic) expression. The Dada project recognized the inadequacies of existing forms of expression to compass a real understanding of the changing world, and sought to destroy all rationalistic cultural norms in art. By satirizing, mimicking, and distorting the systems they attacked, the Dadaists may have sought to demonstrate the inadequacies of their targets and point the way to the possibility of better forms. In a way, the Dadas acted as a sort of social resistor, slowing down the cultural machinery of the time, helping to re-orient society in a different direction. Duchamp, who is often seen as a sort of cultural father to the Dadaists, had a large impact on this cultural resistance that has been extensively researched and discussed. But the scientific inquiry in his pataphysics and the ways it might be seen as an antecedent to current thinking in quantum physics has not been adequately explored.

The word “pataphysics” was first introduced in 1893 by playwright Alfred Jarry who was attempting to create what he called a “science of imaginary solutions.” As historian Linda Henderson explains, “Jarry was deeply interested in contemporary developments in science and geometry, which offered a means to challenge traditional positivism” (Henderson, 47). One of these developments was the mathematical description of non-Euclidean geometries.

Classical geometry, as first formulated by Euclid in Alexandria circa 300 BCE, has within it the fundamental assumption that two parallel lines will extend indefinitely and never meet. This assumption was held to be a priori fact until work done by Carl Friedrich Gauss, Georg Riemann, and others around the 1860s pointed the way toward internally consistent geometrical systems that behaved very differently from the classical model. While working in a Paris library in the early 1910s, Duchamp was exposed to the writing of French mathematician Henri Poincare, whose writings in support of the new mathematical models against the Enlightenment traditions of classical rationalism were an inspiration to him. click to enlarge

Figure 1 Marcel Duchamp, 3 Stoppages Étalon (3 Standard Stoppages), 1913-14, wood, glass, threads, varnish and glass. Katherine S. Dreier Bequest, The Museum of Modern Art, New York © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris

The work that most exemplifies Duchamp’s interest in non-Euclidean geometries (with its implications of non-intuitive curved spaces) is 3 Standard Stoppages of 1914. Duchamp describes the piece in a questionnaire from the Museum of Modern Art as “a joke about the meter – a humorous application of Riemann’s post Euclidean geometry which was devoid of straight lines” (Henderson, 61). As with all of Duchamp’s work, this art object functions on several different levels simultaneously.

The object itself consists of three pieces of wood cut to the pattern of a length of string which Duchamp claims to have dropped three times, so the resulting pattern is a random distortion of a straight line. Recent investigations of this crucial work also point out the nature of the French ‘stoppage’ or ‘invisible mending’ in relation to small alterations the artist made to the supposedly random shape. Most of Duchamp’s work contains an element of social parody or satire, and 3 Standard Stoppages is no exception. France at the time considered itself to be an arbiter of European High culture, and also acted as the official organ of the relatively recent metric system. By creating a new standard of measurement based on chance, Duchamp lampoons the French national pride in its standard measurement.

The Standard Stoppages also represent a major investment in the use of chance as an expressive medium (the piece is sub-titled “Canned chance, 1914”). But there is a deeper element to the proclamation Duchamp makes with the Stoppages, which becomes manifest in the Large Glass. The Stoppages stand as the foundation of the fictional physical system that Duchamp describes in the notes of the Green Box, and diagrams in the Large Glass. He decisively breaks away from the classical, rationalist physical model and determines a new fundamental unit for his new science.

Duchamp refers to Jarry’s ideas and consciously speaks about his desire to re-invent the physical model of the time when he describes the Stoppages as “casting a pataphysical doubt on the concept of the straight line as being the shortest route from one point to another” (Henderson, 62). He states in his notes that he is interested in describing “a reality which would be possible by slightly distending the laws of physics and chemistry,” (Henderson, xix) and the original Stoppages represent a fundamental unit of that distension. Rather like Planck’s constant in quantum mechanics, or the speed of light in General Relativity, the Stoppages represent a new basic metric for describing and measuring the profoundly irrational space that is described in The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. This relationship is evident in the placement of a Network of Stoppages in the Large Glass, a pataphysical device that carries the spray of the Bachelor Machine to the sieves and parasols. He places the new metric directly into the system, using his measuring device to transport the erotic energy of the Bachelors. click to enlarge

The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even is a modern day chimera, with almost as many interpretations as it has had viewers. In some sense, though, it can be called a pataphysical system that makes a “…critique of scientific laws and determinist causality” (Henderson, 185). Duchamp incorporates many different scientific ideas of his time into the workings of the piece, and had been exploring these ideas for some time. Beginning with the Cubists and their exploration of Bergsonian ideas of simultaneity, Duchamp also worked with the evolving notions of fourth dimensional space and X-ray exploration of previously hidden realities. His ideas of the experience of time went into his Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 in 1912. Although he started work in this vein under the auspices of the Cubists (including his brothers, artists Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon) the execution of the Nude proved too radical for the Cubists, and Duchamp subsequently declared he was through with art “Movements.” From there, Duchamp explores even further his ideas of 4th dimensional space in his series of studies of the Bride figure. The Large Glass itself contains many interlocking mechanisms whose function appears to be to transform and transport the “illuminating gas” from the Bachelor Machine to the 4th dimensional realm of the Bride, where it is stored in a reservoir as “love gasoline” which the Bride uses to create her “cinematic blossoming.” The Bride is a 4th dimensional being, at once an automobile, a wasp, a tree, a steam engine, etc., while the Bachelors consist of 9 “mallic moulds” which contain the invisible illuminating gas and function as 3-dimensional template shapes, analogous to the 2-dimensional negative’s relationship to the photographic print. Duchamp at once mimics scientific description of these mechanical systems and parodies scientific understanding, which was thrusting itself on the Western consciousness in the form of massive industrialization and mechanization. Some of the imaginative physical processes described in the Green Box (the notes that accompany the Large Glass) include the stretching of the unit of length, the oscillating density, emancipated metal, and friction re-interpreted (Henderson, 192).

In positing this system, Duchamp seems to place his science in the context of irrational desire and exploration. It is as if he took standard physical systems, and substituted erotic lust as the prime motive force instead of gravity or momentum. Duchamp functions here almost as a Freudian physicist, attacking the conventional norms of the rational, determinist conventions of the time on multiple, multivalent levels. By inserting the irrational desires of the Freudian id into the newly forming non-deterministic physical models, he disarms and “unloads” classical positivist social, physical, and psychological ideas.

While certain elements of the coming revolution in particle physics were already in evidence at the time Duchamp was working on the Large Glass, the breakthrough work establishing a scientifically sound, physical basis for indeterminacy came in 1926 when Schrödinger published his famous equations unifying the particle/wave dualism observed in the behavior of certain particles. Establishing the basis for what is now field theory, Schrödinger’s equations describe particles as discrete quanta of energy that exist as a statistical flux, or a range of possible positions or states. The implication of this model is that, under certain definable conditions, it may not be possible to predict exactly what these particles will do next. Furthermore, further quantum theories postulate that in a real sense these particles do not have precise positions during certain interactions until they crash into something that can be observed and measured.

By the time these postulates become established, classical Newtonian physics no longer seemed to apply to physics on the sub-atomic scale. In fact, it is only by a statistical summing over of these stochastic irregularities at a much larger scale that the classical Newtonian behaviors of everyday objects are explained. These formulations were highly controversial, and scientists like Einstein and even Schrödinger himself rejected them as too irrational and mysterious. This unmeasureability in particle physics has a direct antecedent in the work of Duchamp, particularly in his conception of the Bride in the Large Glass. He conceives of her as inhabiting a 4th-dimensional world above that of the Bachelors that is unmeasureable. The Bride herself is a 4th-dimensional being who cannot be measured in any conventional sense. In order to claim a common ideological ancestry of these concepts, there must be a common link that they share. To find that link, we may look to mathematician Henri Poincare, especially his outlook on scientific and mathematical descriptions of the world called conventionalism. Poincare’s attitude toward the non-Euclidean geometries discussed above was that they were just as valid constructs for solving certain kinds of problems as the more traditional Euclidean descriptions that had been perceived to be eternal and unshakably true for over two centuries. He felt that scientific theories are only conventions used by scientists to describe the patterns they see in nature. This is a sharp contrast to the realist perspective that scientific laws have a real existence that supercedes their manifestation in nature, a classical determinist formulation.

This conventionalist attitude would, perhaps, have been necessary before Schrödinger could have formulated his theories as he did. The model of a sub-atomic component as both a wave and a particle is an imagined metaphor for what the interactions might look like if we were able to perceive them directly. But no such thing that is both a wave and a particle exists in our direct experience. To formulate such a model and work under the assumption that it is an accurate and useful depiction of the actual interaction presupposes that the author understands the model as being a convenient metaphor, an initial convention, not necessarily a discovery of the true laws of nature. We see the roots of conventionalism in Duchamp’s pataphysics as well. His declaration of an intent to describe a reality formed by “slightly distending the laws of physics and chemistry” is a statement that he intends to explore a system with altered conventions. He understood the power of the imagined scientific metaphor and wished to apply it in his own artwork. The next major piece of the indeterminacy puzzle arrived in 1927 with the publication of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Heisenberg had analyzed the implications of measuring the state of a particular particle. The only way to determine anything about the position or momentum of an object is to interact with it, to shine a light on it, or hit it with something else and measure how the second object reacts. But at the scale of the sub-atomic, “shining a light on it” is the same as hitting with something; at that scale, light interacts as a particle itself (called the photon) which has a definite mass and momentum of its own. If one wants to determine the position of an electron, one must hit it with something like a photon, measure how the photon’s trajectory is altered by the collision, and deduce from the trajectory of the electron. The only catch is, there is nothing with which to hit the electron that is small enough not to perturb its initial trajectory. By the act of measuring the state of the electron, one must alter its initial trajectory. By this, Heisenberg deduced that one can never be certain of both the position and momentum of a sub-atomic particle such as the electron. In addition, because of the seemingly unpredictable implications of the particle/wave duality, the photon alters the trajectory of the electron in a statistically random way. This is quite an ontological blow to the Enlightenment doctrine that the world is inherently knowable; here we have convincing scientific evidence that there are some kinds of information which are physically impossible for us to gather.

In this way, Heisenberg contextualizes the scientific act of measurement. By considering the effect of the observer on the observed system, he changes the rules of science. No longer are we simply gatherers of knowledge that has an absolute existence in the world independent of us; we are active participants in a system that changes as a result of our interactions with it. Duchamp by this time had already been engaged in a similar enterprise aimed at the contextualization of the art world. His readymade works, such as Fountain, Bottle Rack and Bicycle Wheel, force the reconsideration of the nature of the art object. By discarding the accepted context of the perceived object, the artist forces the viewer to be an active participant in an experience Duchamp insists to be art. He believed that the art experience was one created not only by the artist, but also the spectator. In a speech to the American Federation of Artists in 1957 he said,

“… The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his (her) contribution to the creative act.”

The forces that Duchamp explores in his work are invisible, obscured. His interest in x-rays, radio waves, and magnetism inform and give shape to his pataphysics, as they also define the trends in physical sciences discussed here. The psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jung that were so terribly influential on European and American artists of the time emphasize the hidden aspects of the personality; the subconscious is that which cannot be known or experienced by us directly but has a substantial impact on our actions and who we believe ourselves to be. There was at the time a confluence of thought accepting the existence of hidden mysteries with the intent to explore their boundaries. Gabriel Buffet Picabia characterized the 1910s as a time of “an ebullience of invention, of exploration beyond the rational in every domain of the mind- science, psychology, imagination.… It would seem, moreover, that in every field, a principle direction of the 20th century was the attempt to capture the ‘non- perceptible'”(Henderson, XX). It is unlikely that Duchamp’s work had any direct influence on the scientists working in the areas that I have described, but the current of thought that has been carried through in so many ways through so many different permutations has had a profound impact on how we view the world around us. The complexities of Marcel Duchamp’s thought and the rich history behind the development of indeterminate quantum physics deserve far more attention than I have been able to give them here. It would be valuable to invest more attention into the roots of the Enlightenment ideals I have referred to, and to explore the reactions of the guardians of the Enlightenment ideals to early 20th century doubts. Further investigation of Duchamp’s notion of “unloading” ideas from objects and systems that he explored in the readymades warrants further investigation, to see the effect of his unloading in scientific gestalt of the era. The chaos mathematics that has become such a powerful way to investigate patterns in seemingly random behaviors may have some very interesting parallel ideas to some of those presented here. This essay only scratches the surface of many relevant topics. But the exercise of examining the ideas from the different disciplines I’ve touched on (art, science, and psychology) seems a very productive one, and the similarities and differences in the conceptions of the world help enrich our understanding of ourselves and how we have come to believe the things we believe.

Sources Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. Duchamp in Context, Princeton University Press, 1998

Marcel Duchamp – Étant donnés: The Deconstructed Painting

Picasso (1881-1973) and Duchamp (1887-1968) were more or less contemporaries. Both artists lived to a ripe old age and had strong links to Paris and European modernism, and both are referred to as ‘artists of the 20th century.’ Despite this, the two developed, artistically speaking, into almost diametric opposites.

Duchamp’s name is well known and highly regarded within the inner circles of art and art institutions, although he is less known in more peripheral, art-interested circles. One of the reasons for this is probably that Duchamp’s total production is quite limited and most of his works have been donated to a single museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. This means that it is not possible to study some of Duchamp’s works in the original, or in reproduction, anywhere in Denmark.

Practically everyone, on the other hand, is familiar with the name of Picasso. Paintings flowed from his hand, and every modern museum with any self-respect has Picasso represented by one or several works. With great virtuosity, Picasso goes on a pilgrimage through modernism’s many ‘-isms’, or styles, keeping the human form as a constant point of departure for the majority of his paintings. Even though Picasso never completely abstracts himself from reality, his art has almost become synonymous with modern, abstract painting. Picasso abstracts himself, via diverse styles, from the motifs of reality, turning the painting itself, or the style, into the real motif. click to enlarge

Duchamp was also originally a painter and, like Picasso, he went on a pilgrimage through diverse idioms of modernism’s many ‘-isms’ of painting. Fauvism, Cubism and Futurism are names that can be applied to Duchamp’s early paintings. Similarly to Picasso, the human form is almost always in focus, as a motif or point of departure, in his early paintings and later works. As his career advanced, Duchamp turned his back on painting. Instead of abstracting himself from the motif, as the majority of Duchamp’s fellow painters were doing, Duchamp abstracted himself from the ground plane of painting, and thus from art in its traditional sense. click to enlarge

Figure 1b viser det indre af Étant donnés. © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris Étant donnés (in English: Given) is Duchamp’s last major work. It was produced in secrecy over a number of years after the Second World War, from 1946 to 1966, and, after Duchamp’s death in 1968, was permanently installed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Étant donnés may therefore be considered to be Duchamp’s artistic testament, his conclusion to art. The old wooden door of the work, the immediate ‘facade’ ofÉtant donnés, meets the onlooker in a small room behind the large, well light exhibition room, where the rest of the Duchamp works are found. The small room is a kind of ‘appendix’ to the large room. It does not lead anywhere and, at first glance, only contains the door, behind which the rest of the work is installed. When you enter the small room and look to the left, there is a stucco wall that stretches from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall. In the center of this stucco wall there is a large, arched brick doorway that forms a frame around the old wooden door. It is obvious that the door cannot be opened, but in the middle of the door, at eye-level, there are two small peepholes(1).

This article can be seen as a short introduction to the hypothesis, problems and conclusions raised in relation to Etant donnes. Specifically I begin with the work’s actual physical form, and use, in this connection, sketches of the work, that the French philosopher, Jean-Francois Lyotard, has made for his book Les TRANS formateurs Duchamp. Figure 2 Diagram, the cross-section of the peepshow construction of Etant donnés: 1º la chute d’eau / 2º le gas d’éclairage, 1946-66 The illustration was originally done by Lyotard, but the names of the various layers of Étant donnés have been added. In particular, I would like to emphasize the picture plane, as it is central to the work(2). This initial section focuses on the historical picture plane and particular status which the painting acquires during the Renaissance. I continue to investigate the status of the picture plane in the modern era, where the painting liberates itself from the former constraints of history, literature, space and motif, etc. To conclude, I return to the picture plane that Duchamp has demolished in Étant donnés and to the works that are related to this demolition.

From earlier studies of optics and perspective, I have analyzed Duchamp’s Étant donnés. This thesis can also be seen in relation to the debate that has circulated concerning perspective and questions of the objectivity of perspective. Unlike, Norman Bryson and others, I, along with Duchamp, focus on the perspective look, the Gaze, and deconstruct the classical perspective construction.

Étant donnés‘ negative status makes it intriguing piece. Duchamp researchers have often ignored the work, or devoted less attention to it than, for example, to the Large Glass. Unlike many Duchamp researchers, I consider Étant donnés to be Duchamp’s masterpiece. Indeed, I see the work as one of the masterpieces of the history of art. It is one of the most challenging works of art that exists anywhere, and in my own words: ‘the most thrilling work of art’(3).

The work not only constitutes a conclusion to Duchamp’s life’s work as an artist, but can also be seen as a conclusion to the state of art in the 20th century, in a more general sense. Compared to the Large Glass, Étant donnés is far closer to the perfect anti-work of art. For in Étant donnés, Duchamp successfully produces a work that is not a work of ‘art’, but rather, what would seem to be Duchamp’s lifelong project finally reaching perfection in this work. This paradoxical project would seem to consist of producing a picture without a picture plane, or a painting without a canvas, which is precisely the opposite of what Duchamp’s contemporary artists were busy doing. (Duchamp’s fellow painters, such as Picasso, abstract their paintings from the traditional motif. They favor the picture plane or the two- dimensional canvas at the expense of perspective and space; illusion.) One could say that, unlike them, Duchamp favors ‘perspective,’ or rather the perspective look, the Gaze, at the expense of the picture plane or the canvas.

Therefore, a readymade can be seen as a motif that has not been transformed into the medium of art. In relation to painting, a readymade can be compared to a realistic perspective painting or a photograph. Many of these ready-mades also have a frontality that appeals to photography(4).

The initial phase of the project can already be studied in the Large Glass, whose transparent glass picture plane has almost disappeared. It is nevertheless present as a ground plan for the figures or formations laid down in the work. The onlooker not only sees through the Large Glass but may also look at the glass itself. For that reason, there is still much of Duchamp’s old paintings in the Large Glass, as the picture plane has not yet been completely negated(5). click to enlarge Figure 3 Photograph of Duchamp’s Large Glass (1915-23) in Katherine Dreier’s living room.

On the other hand, the picture plane of the ‘painting’ has quite literally disappeared in Étant donnés, where Duchamp first builds up the picture plane of the work as a dark wall – only to demolish or negate it.

Why has Duchamp felt this urge to negate the picture plane? What is the point? Are there not many other significant ‘details’ to be studied in the work? Yes, of course there are, but I maintain that this ‘detail’, this demolition of the picture plane – which is normally overlooked, since the picture plane or the work has been looked ‘through’ – is in fact the work’s most important ‘detail’ and Duchamp’s main purpose with the work.

When I call Étant donnés a deconstructed painting, it is a reference to the construction, Étant donnés, with the aid of which Duchamp deconstructs another construction, most clearly traditional perspective painting. In such a painting, the layers or levels are laid on top of each other, so that they ‘melt’ into one level that materializes itself with the aid of the picture plane. When one looks at such a perspective painting, one experiences at a more illusionistic level that the picture stretches out behind the plane, behind “Alberti’s window”, and exposes – if not always a realistic picture of reality. At least something which has a fairly convincing stamp of realism. The abstract painting cannot be deconstructed in the same literal way as the perspective painting. The spatiality which the abstract painting often postulates, despite its strive for flatness, is of a more spiritual or invisible nature. I would claim, even so, that the abstract painting is very much ‘part of’ or an ‘aspect’ of this deconstructed painting, this visual work of reference(6). In fact, it is as if it is precisely the development of the modern abstract painting, and the consequence of this painting, that has been Duchamp’s starting point for Étant donnés.

It is well known that Duchamp detested the retinal or highly painterly painting, as is expressed in, for example, abstract expressionism. This modern, emancipated painting has liberated itself from everything except its own ground plan and its own material, which is thereby made visible. In doing so the abstract painting has also liberated itself from everything that could formerly appeal to “the grey matter,” in other words, to interpretation.

Duchamp must have viewed this trend as anything but liberating. The abstract painting does not free itself from its greatest convention. It does not free itself from its ground plan or of the picture plane; on the contrary, it accentuates it.

In Étant donnés, Duchamp liberates the work from the picture plane, but he does it on the terms of the perspective look. In doing so, he praises the potential of the intellectual eye, but in a way that exceeds the possibilities of earlier perspective painting. In earlier perspective painting, perspective and picture plane had arrived at a compromise! The perspective picture was fixed to the picture plane on definite conditions. In Étant donnés there is nothing that is fixed to the canvas, wood or wall. It is only the onlooker who can ‘fix’ the picture (or the painting). Therefore, the work has no sense or meaning without the onlooker. The picture (or the painting) only exists in the mind of the onlooker. Since there is no common or set image fixed anywhere, there cannot be any common interpretation (7).

Étant donnés is a complex, anarchistic work that at many levels sends out messages or invites associations. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me in this article to do complete justice to the work. I would, however, like to mention another aspect of the work that has also been ‘overlooked’. In Étant donnés, the exhibitionist element of the work of art has been exaggerated, since the picture, so to speak, exposes its own naked genitals in a surprise attack, just as the exhibitionist does. This can only be seen as a comment on the innate exhibitionism of all paintings, or all works of art. So Étant donnés can thus be seen as an extreme alternative to the self-absorbed abstract painting. The abstract painting had turned its back on the onlooker and blocked its own traditional function as a medium, and thus cut itself off from its own onlooker’s insight or interpretation.

It is thought provoking that the work was produced in the years after the Second World War, bearing the nuclear arms race in mind. Étant donnés can be seen as a ‘vanitas painting of art (and thereby civilization)’. Meaning that Duchamp must first and foremost criticize artificial (modern) art, i.e. the art that only has itself as its motif. The work praises Given, or nature, and negates the artificial, or man-made. It is a self-critical and extremely melancholy work. But that does not mean that it negates the onlooker’s experience of the work. On the contrary, the onlooker becomes the (co-) creator and interpreter of the work.

In Étant donnés, Duchamp has expressed himself ‘verbally’ by setting up completely recognizable elements or signs (the door, the naked figure, the landscape, etc.) that call out for decoding. This intellectual challenge must also be one of the work’s most important aspects, for Étant donnés is a work of art, despite its dislike of art and the man-made. Duchamp’s last work anticipates the “Return of the Real'” that we are witnessing in contemporary art. Just as Étant donnés opens up much of contemporary art to an abundance of (relativist) interpretations. In many ways, Étant donnés can be seen as a ‘hybrid’ – an amalgam of earlier perspective painting and present-day installation art. Contemporary installation art can therefore be seen as the natural heir of earlier perspective painting(8).

Notes

1. The description of the meeting with the door is based on personal observations, since on two occasions – in July of 1998 and February of 1999 – I visited the museum. I do not want in this article to include ideas about the strategy that would seem to have been worked out in connection with the positioning of the work at the museum. Nor do I reflect on various types of onlookers and their possible advance knowledge of the work. Additionally, I have chosen not to deal with various voyeuristic aspects of the work.

2. Even though Étant donnés clearly has a lot to do with perspective and has also been recognized as a peepshow construction, no one, as far as I know, has paid attention to the fact that the dark brick wall functions as the work’s picture plane. For example, the Spanish researcher Juan Antonio Ramírez in his book Duchamp, Love and Death, Even (1993), only describes the wall as ‘the Brick (or holed) Wall’. Reaktion Books, London, 1998.

3. It has not been my main intention to praise Étant donnés at the expense of the Large Glass… but the work is in need of some tender care, and of being upgraded. In his mammoth work Downcast Eyes, the historian Martin Jay writes about the negative attitude towards Etant donnes that is (or has been) common among Duchamp researchers; he also describes the work in a more positive light: ‘To its detractors the Étant donnés is little more than another of Duchamp’s hoaxes, “the ultimate bluff against art and the whole superstructure, an obscene diorama pawned off on a reputable museum because of the reputation of the ‘artist’ and the brilliant literary apparatus lending it prestige.” To those less hostile, it represents Duchamp’s most profound exploration of the troubled confluence of vision and desire.’ Quotation from Martin Jay, Downcast Eyes, The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-century French Thought, p. 169, University of California Press, 1994. 4. Rosalind Krauss has also noticed the parallel with the readymade and the snapshot. She writes: ‘the readymade’s parallel with the photograph is established by its process of production. It is about the physical transposition of an object from the continuum of reality into the fixed condition of the art-image by a moment of isolation or selection.’ Krauss: The Originality of the Avant-garde and other Modernist Myths, p. 206, Cambridge Massachusetts and London, 1993.

5. The French researcher Jean Clair, in his article ‘Duchamp and the classical perspectivists’ has drawn attention to Duchamp’s interest in the old treatises on perspective. He writes: “An obvious fact which needs to be stressed is that by substituting a plate of glass for an opaque canvas spread on a stretcher as support, Duchamp was doing no more than applying the analysis of the classical perspectivists to the letter in making a real ‘parrete di vetro’ (wall of glass).” Jean Clair also shows how Duchamp’s the Large Glass seems to illustrate the treatises on perspective in the actual design of the glass – both in iconographic details and the composition. Quotation from Art Forum, March 1978, pp. 40-49.

6. When I call the work a deconstructed painting and a visual work of reference, this is due to the form of manifestation of the work, which can be observed as segmented, or as something which has been split apart. I am really only following the deconstruction which Duchamp has already undertaken, so this deconstruction should not be compared too closely with Derrida’s philosophical deconstruction. When I call the work a work of reference, this is also due to the segmentation of the work. Each segment of the work seems to emit a flow of speech – which in relation to the development of painting in the 20th century can be decoded or interpreted in particular ways, at the same time as the work, in the most literal sense, is open to interpretations.

7. Étant donnés has often given rise to various highly imaginative interpretations, and some of these have been rejected as ‘incorrect’. I do not, however, think that they should be rejected. In my thesis I have studied Duchamp’s interest in stereoscopy and anamorphosis. The previously mentioned French researcher Jean Clair has described the special nature of the stereoscopic picture: ‘Because it has no material reality it does not permit symbolic exchange.’ The amalgam of the two mother images of the stereoscopic picture also only exists in the onlooker’s mind, which must have fascinated and inspired Duchamp. Jean Clair: Opticeries, October 5, Summer 1978.

8. The phrase “The Return of the Real” is a reference to Hal Foster’s book of the same name. Foster: The Return of the Real, the Avant- Garde at the End of the Century, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996. The Art of Looking Back and the Reward of More or Less Being Seen

The danger is in pleasing an immediate public: the immediate public that comes around you and takes you in and accepts you and gives you success and everything. Instead of that, you should wait for fifty years or a hundred years for your true public. That is the only public that interests me.

Marcel Duchamp

It is the REGARDEURS who make the pictures.

Marcel Duchamp click to enlarge

Figure 1 Jasper Johns, The Critic Sees, 1961

Our ability to believe our eyes is often overridden by our unquestioning confidence in the judgment of “experts”. As in Jasper John’s The Critic Sees(Fig. 1), we seem to put more trust in the words of these experts whose insights are often the reiteration of yet others’ conclusions, than in our own ability to bear down and witness what is before us. Marcel Duchamp understood the human tendency to categorize and simplify as well as rely on the filters of contemporary opinion to color observation; I believe he used this knowledge to make a powerful commentary on the state of affairs of modern thought and the direction that art was taking in his lifetime. Duchamp fought quietly against the move in twentieth century art towards the purely visual experience, the ‘retinal shudder’ as he put it, where “aesthetic delectation depends almost exclusively upon the sensitivity of the retina without any auxiliary interpretation.”(1) This auxiliary interpretation was to Duchamp the operation of the intellect in making and understanding art. Duchamp rejected the Matissean and later the related Greenbergian theoretical view that saw art in terms of expression and taste rather than concept. As a result, Duchamp sought to transform his art and its appreciation into an intellectual endeavor that would restore it’s ties “with society” by once again including “the religious, philosophical and moral content that bonded the two together.”(2)

I believe it was this multi-dimensional conceptual stance on art, investigations into the wonder of human perception and a drive to subvert the art world’s digestive cycle, rather than a Dada prankster spirit, that may in part have motivated Duchamp to design and handcraft his ready-mades and thereafter claim them to be found objects as recent discoveries suggest. The litany of contradictory statements regarding their provenance and the mysterious loss or destruction of the original ready-mades denying any close inspection stood as a challenge to his generation as it continues to be to ours to look not just through the glasses of contemporary interpretation but to have confidence in the complexity of our own mind’s eye and what it can discern. Calvin Tomkins quotes and paraphrases Duchamp from an interview he gave to promote the Société Anonyme in 1920 as follows: If Americans would simply remember their own “far famed…sense of humor when they see our pictures,” he added, and think for themselves instead of listening to the critics, “modern art will come into its own.”(3) click images to enlarge

In Wanted: $2000 Reward (Fig. 2) Duchamp puts a price on this challenge and offers not only monetary compensation but seemingly a clear set of clues to any who wish to question accepted interpretations and jump beyond retinal readings of this and his other works. Today we know through the research primarily of Rhonda Roland Shearer and a growing number of others that the ready- mades and rectified ready-mades such as L.H.O.O.Q.(4) andApollinaire Enameled(5) were not purely operations of choice by the artist but in fact highly manipulated wholly original works.

Wanted: $2000 Reward of 1923 is traditionally classified as a rectified readymade and “according to [Arturo] Schwarz this work, which is now lost, was made from a joke poster Duchamp found in a New York restaurant. He attached his own photographs within two blank rectangles and had the last line of the lower text altered by a printer so that Rrose Selavy could be included in the list of aliases.”(6) It reads as follows:

For information leading to the arrest of George W. Welch , alias Bull, alias Pickens, etcetry, etcetry. Operated Bucket Shop in New York under name HOOKE, LYON, and CINQUER . Height about 5 feet 9 inches. Weight about 180 pounds. Com- plexion medium, eyes same. Known also under name RROSE SELAVY. click images to enlarge Figure 3 Figure 4 Marcel Ducahmp, Photograph of the original Wanted (1922) Poster, 1936 © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris Marcel Duchamp, Photo of the handwritten transcription for Wanted: $2,000 Reward, 1938 © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris This work originally appeared sometime between 1922 and 1923 and later in 1938, when Duchamp used photos taken in 1936 of the original (Figs. 3, 4) to reconstruct it.(7) In 1963 Duchamp used Wanted: $2,000 Reward as the central image, a poster within a poster, for his first museum retrospective, by or of Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Selavy (fig.5). In the context of his retrospective, where 114 of his works were displayed,(8) we are left wondering why Duchamp sought to portray himself as a criminal. The implication being that the character pictured, Duchamp, has gotten away with something, the question is what? This analysis attempts to determine the nature of the crime as it was presented in the exhibition poster to spectators in Pasadena in 1963 and in doing so reveals that Wanted: $2,000 Reward may not be a simple rectified readymade but instead a wholly original work. click images to enlarge

Figure 5 Marcel Duchamp, A Poster Within a Poster, poster for “Marcel Duchamp: A Retrospective Exhibition,” Pasadena Art Museum, October 8 – November 3, 1963 © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris

We know at least from Genre Allegory (George Washington) of 1943 that Duchamp is familiar with this well-known first President in American history though we cannot determine whether he was aware of him in 1923. If we assume that in the interval between his first arrival to the United States in 1915 and 1923 Duchamp learns of George Washington, we can then speculate that perhaps the middle initial “W” as in the common abbreviation GW, in the first sentence of Wanted: $2000 Reward is a stand in for Washington resulting in the proper name “George Washington Welch”. I make this leap in considering simultaneously the proceeding word “Welch” and how it interacts with the name and mythology of George Washington. If we look up welch in Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary we find that it is a variation on Welsh a word already in usage by 1905, whose second entry means to break one’s word:

Main Entry: welsh(9) Pronunciation: ‘welsh, ‘welch Function: intransitive verb Etymology: probably from Welsh, adjective Date: 1905 1 : to avoid payment — used with on welched on his debts 2 : to break one’s word : RENEGE welched on their promises – welsh·er noun

Thus, the noun “welch” after the name “Washington” disappoints our expectations as we are more likely to remember Washington for his virtue since his character is often defined by the well known story of the cherry tree and the famous line “I cannot tell a lie….” The juxtaposition of the symbolism surrounding “George Washington” and the definition of “Welch” yields a construction such as virtue- purity (George Washington) reneged-broken (Welch). If we apply this notion of purity to the readymades, since after all they demonstrate that choice is the purest possible artistic expression, we begin to realize the significance of the concept “purity reneged.” This occurs only if we accept that compelling evidence today reveals that the ready-mades such as In advance of a Broken Arm (1915) or Hat Rack (1917)(10) are not the operation of pure choice but cleverly crafted to appear as if hand selected industrially produced objects. An additional interpretation of ‘George W Welch’ transposes the persona of a dishonest Washington directly to Duchamp himself (Figs.6, 7), where we can see that perhaps Duchamp wishes to portray the nature of his crime through the characterization of a virtuous or honest artist/leader that has broken his word. With either reading already we sense a theme of deception.

This theme continues in the same sentence with the use of the words alias and etcetry visually linked by repetition and their appearance in lowercase. The word alias is significant when the proper English pronunciation “el – e – as” is mildly re- stressed, resulting in the sound “a – lie- as.” The beginning “a” sound disappears completely when the two aliases are pronounced in succession, the resulting sound yields – lies, lies. The second set of repeated words in lowercase letters in this sentence is “etcetry, etcetry.” The word “etcetry” is a playful variation of et cetera spoken with a southern drawl, signifying others of the same kind, but if we look at it as a French homophone it takes on new meaning. I should note that Duchamp was deeply interested in the writings of Raymond Roussel dating back to 1912 and particularly in his word play(11) that was based on a system of slightly distorted homophones.(12) Also, we see in other works such as With Hidden Noise (Fig. 8) of 1916 that Duchamp already easily jumps between French and English. Therefore it is not a great leap to transform etcetry into “et c’est [le] tri” the finaltry (pronounced: tree) perfectly correlating with tri, the participle of the verb trier in French. Le Grand Robert dictionary of the French language gives a definition of this verb and dates its first appearance in the language:

TRIER v. tr. – V. 1160; p.e. bas lat. Tritarebroyer , du class. terere, parce qu’ on broie le grain pour en separer les parties inutilisables 1. Choisir parmi d’autres; extraire d’un plus grand nombre, après examen. Trier des semences une a une. Ouvrier qui trie les assiettes sans defaut. Trier les homes propres au service. Selectionner.- Trier des graines sur le volet. – Au fig. Choisir en operant une selection tres stricte. On restreint le nombre des nouveaux arrivants, on les

trie sur le volet(13). The translation from French to English for trier is to sort, select, pick or hand pick.(14) The resulting phrase “et c’est [le] tri” translates to the English “and it is [the] sorting” or “and it is [the] choosing”. Now, if we combine the lowercase words alias and etcetry linked by their proximity, repetition and lowercase status in the sentence we arrive at the phrase “lies and it is [the] choosing, lies and it is [the] choosing” or “lies, lies, and it is [the] choosing, and it is [the] choosing.” As in the case of George Washington Welch, the theme of deception emerges from the text in Wanted: $2000 Reward. In this example an allusion to the ready-mades, defined as objects “elevated to the status of art by the mere act of the artist’s selection,”(15) may surface as the act of selection is directly addressed by the use of trierwhile simultaneously the definition of the ready-mades as a process of selection is put to question by prefacing the act with the notion of lying. As we will see, the next example reiterates this emerging theme of false choices.

In the same sentence we find the proper names “Bull” and “Pickens” thematically connected by the use of capital letters. Other than the large male farm animal, “Bull” signifies a falsehood or a down-right lie in a colloquial sense, as in the common expression “that’s a load of bull.” The next word “Pickens” is the southern drawl equivalent of “pickings” from which one need not go far to arrive at its synonym, “choices [selections]”. When these two words are combined the result is “Bull Pickens [Pickings]” or ” false choices [selections].” In light of the previous two examples and in the context of the ready-mades this example also seems to challenge the authenticity of the ready-mades as everyday objects raised to the status of art solely through an artist’s choice.

The following sentence – “Operated Bucket Shop in New York under name HOOKE, LYON, and CINQUER” – may further the theme of deception in connection to the ready-mades. First, we should take note of Duchamp’s use of “Operated” at the beginning of this sentence since he often uses the term “operation” when referring to processes surrounding the ready-mades. An example appears in one of his notes in the The Green Box that states,” to separate the mass-produced ready-made from the ready found – the separation is anoperation.”(16) A definition for “bucket shop” from Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary a term that dates back to 1875, aids in addressing the remainder of the sentence:

Main Entry: bucket shop(17) Function: noun Date: 1875 1 – : a saloon in which liquor was formerly sold from or dispensed in open containers (as buckets or pitchers) 2 -a- : a gambling establishment that formerly used market fluctuations (as in securities or commodities) as a basis for gaming b- : a dishonest brokerage firm; especially : one that formerly failed to execute customers’ margin orders in expectation of making a profit from market fluctuations adverse to the customers’ interests.

click to enlarge

The operator of a bucket shop thus capitalizes on the gullibility and blindness of individuals to see that they are being taken(Fig. 9). A successful sale requires that the customer take the bait as the expression goes, “hook, line and sinker” a homophone derived from the aliases HOOKE, LYON and CINQUER appearing at the end of the sentence. Duchamp then, may see himself in New York as the operator of a bucket shop of sorts where questionable gaming or brokering may translate literally to his not following art world rules. From the “dishonesty” of claiming the ready-mades, a product of the artist’s choice, to the eventual signing of inaccurate versions of the ready-mades Duchamp’s actions become the equivalent of selling margin orders for profit adverse to customers’ interests or when put into the art context, the audience’s expectations. By delivering an inaccurate story to his immediate audience, Duchamp drives the figurative ‘HOOKE’ deeper and with every passing generation his “crime of deception” quietly fades from view, as the surrogates he happily signs(18) become the “sign” for the lost originals. Through the proliferation of the photographic documentation of these over time he virtually replaces the few smoking gun originals that nevertheless co-exist, as those in theBox in the Valise of 1941. In 1963 around the time of the Pasadena retrospective, Teeny [Duchamp] describes Marcel Duchamp’s reaction to Richard Hamilton’s article forArt International as making Duchamp feel “transparent… as some fish are, showing their bones and everything.” (19) In it Hamilton writes:

Duchamp has busied himself for many years in the propagation of his achievements thorough the media of printed reproductions and certified copies so that now we begin to accept the substitute as the work. I certainly fell in the well-laid trap so thoroughly that I boasted of knowing what he had done without ever having seen more than a few things in the flesh…(20)

Indeed up until a few years ago, our reading of Duchamp’s oeuvre had long ago shifted from direct observation to glimpses at inaccurate versions of the ready-mades and the reiterated voices of what the critics saw and see as Jasper John’s cast sculpture reveals so eloquently. Even early on, though, there were murmurs that may have pointed at the “deception.” André Breton, founder of the surrealists and friend of Duchamp, may have made allusions to it in the publication Minotaure from 1935:

Marcel Duchamp’s journey through the artistic looking glass determines a fundamental crisis of painting and sculpture which reactionary maneuvers and stock-exchange brokerages will not be able to conceal much longer.(21)

I wonder still if Breton’s mention of reactionary maneuvers and stock-exchange brokerages is a direct reference to Duchamp’s bucket shop bait and switch strategy of signing his name to copies of lost ready-mades or simply to moves in the art world in the 1930s. In 1964 the “deception” was questioned again when Alfred Barr challenged Duchamp’s concept of indifference in selecting the ready-mades at a panel discussion at MOMA by asking “why do they look so beautiful today?” Duchamp answered,”Nobody’s perfect.”(22)

Perhaps the imperfection was always intended; perhaps the fugitive pictured in Wanted: $2,000 Reward wants to get caught, just not immediately. The remaining text in Wanted: $2,000 Reward seems more descriptive than cryptic describing a set of physical attributes following the convention of wanted type posters. Other than the well-known homophone RROSE SELAVY, Duchamp’s female alter ego first appearing in 1920, which when pronounced in French yields “Eros, c’est la vie” or in English, “Eros, [that] is life,” this final text appears barren of secondary meanings. It seems simply to function as a delay in the capture of the “criminal” by misdirecting our attention and keeping us from challenging the “official story” of Wanted: $2,000 Reward.

But does it really end there? If we continue looking for further wordplay relating to the ready-mades we could read “Height” as its equivalent in French, “Hauteur” a homonym forauteur that translates to the English author followed by the numbers 5 and 9 correlating to feet and inches. Could these instead be an approximation of the number of important ready- mades ‘about’ 14 that Duchamp ‘authored’ and wishes to be measured against? And could ‘Weight’ be a homonym for “Wait” ordelay , a concept Duchamp explored from his subtitling theLarge Glass of 1923 delay in glass,(23) to the various delays in the publication of his notes, to his posthumous unveiling of Etant Donnes in 1969 to our present delayed further understanding of his works? If we continue to translate measures, could we take the 180 lbs. in the context of delay and translate it to the French kilogram and end up with 81.81(repeating), Duchamp’s age at death. This number also roughly matches the number of years in delay from the unveiling of the first well known ready-made, Fountain of 1917, to our present understanding that it along with the other ready-mades were more than simply operations of choice. Indeed this particular delay brings us to a time in history when we can finally asses the true “weight” of his oeuvre, particularly when we recall that he was willing to wait fifty or a hundred years for his ideal audience. And if as they say, “time is money” can we translate the $2,000 or 2K from money to years and mark our time and ourselves as the arrival of his much ‘wanted’ ideal audience? Many of these last observations, I realize, may be marred with conjecture but I offer them to raise the question of intentionality in reading Duchamp’s work. When is one over reading or misinterpreting the work and when are certain connections justified? When our readings turn up incredible results we are left to wonder whether it is just our imagination or if it is possible for one man to juggle simultaneously such a vast amount of multiplicity of meaning.

Whether he could, could not or did should be debated and in terms of Wanted: $2000 Reward the apparent references to lies, choices and the ready-mades should be central to the discussion. To answer the question of intentionality I believe it is important first to attempt to find a version of the original joke poster, if there ever existed one. If the search turns up an original then the argument is settled and Duchamp simply found an extremely appropriate ready-made in 1923 and modified it slightly.

click to enlarge

On the other hand, if there is no evidence of such a poster then this analysis may aid in re- definingWanted: $2000 Reward as one amongst the growing group of highly layered handcrafted works originally classified as ready-mades, rectified ready-mades, and assisted ready-mades to name a few of Duchamp’s designations. From urinal to snow shovel present findings consistently demonstrate that Duchamp may have never settled for simple choice, though he went to great pains to make it appear so. There are many inconsistencies surrounding Wanted: $2,000 Rewardthat point to this being the case. For one,Wanted: $2,000 Reward is grouped in Duchamp’s portable museum, Box in a Valise of 1941 (Fig.10), with three other works including L.H.O.O.Q. that has now convincingly been proven by Rhonda Roland Shearer to be a deftly refinished photo composite of Duchamp’s face and the Mona Lisa’s instead of a cheap chromo reproduction of the Gioconda as the “official story” claims.(24) The other two works in the grouping, Tzanck Check (1919) and Obligation de Monte Carlo (1924), both known to be handcrafted surrogates of actual documents, classified as imitated rectified ready-mades. It seems, therefore, implausible in terms of the grouping in the Box and in the broader context of the other handmade ready-mades that Duchamp would include such a simple slightly altered found object in his oeuvre. And furthermore, it is difficult to imagine a self-described meticulous man keenly aware of his place in history and moreover the workings of posterity choosing what overtly looks like a slightly altered playful “joke” as the attraction to his most important exhibition.(25) Other incongruities remain, such as the many homophonic allusions and particularly those that jump from English to French, a trademark in Duchamp’s punning. Would a New York joke poster writer, writing for an English speaking audience in the 1920s pun in French? And finally, can the correlation with present knowledge of false ready-mades be ignored in light of the apparent repeated references to deception and selection in Wanted: $2,000 Reward as deciphered in this essay?

As the body of evidence grows and demonstrates Duchamp’s ability and wish to visually layer his works in terms of multiplicity of viewpoints and simultaneity of meaning then it follows that he may have pursued similar ends in works like Wanted: $2,000 Reward that focus on the dimension of language. Duchamp puts it best:

I like words in a poetic sense. Puns for me are like rhymes … for me, words are not merely a means of communication. You know, puns have always been considered a low form of wit, but I find them a source of stimulation both because of their actual sound and because of unexpected meanings attached to the interrelationship of disparate words. For me, this is an infinite field of joy and it’s always right at hand. Sometimes four or five different levels of meaning come through.(26)

If we take Duchamp at his word in this instance, we hear clearly that he not only can arrive at multiple meanings (up to four or five levels) but also enjoys bending language in the manner this deciphering of Wanted: $2,000 Reward proposes he may have done.

To end I want to add one last possible reference to the ready-mades and the meaning of art in general found in the title of the piece, WANTED, printed in bold red block lettering at the top of the poster. The connection comes when we think of the reason for wanted posters in the first place. click to enlarge

Wanted posters are meant to activate looking in the eventual hope of finding. As when we “L.H.O.O.Q.” [read: LOOK] closely in 1919 and find Marcel Duchamp where the Mona Lisa should be and “rasée” [read: re-see] in 1965(Figs.11,12) that he has gone again,(27)then perhaps in Wanted: $2000 Reward, Marcel Duchamp affords us another chance to find him out and in the process of re-discovery we end up claiming our reward: a way back to an active role in the appreciation of art that involves not only looking with our eyes but also with our imagination and the full capacity of our intellect or as Jasper Johns describes “through the retinal boundaries which had been established with Impressionism into a field where language, thought and vision act upon one another.”(28) And, if we accept this role, in the end we become artists in a sense as our readings – what we choose to see – become the true ready-mades found again in the wake of their disappearance.(29) After all, tout-fait (ready-made) is a homophone for tu fait (you make).(30)

A ready-made is a work of art without an artist to make it. Marcel Duchamp, 1963 click images to enlarge

Marvin Lazarus, Retouched photograph of Duchamp with moustache and goatee drawn on his face at the 1961 “Assemblages” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art © 2000 Succession Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris

Notes

1. Ades, Dawn; Cox, Niel; Hopkins, David. Marcel Duchamp. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999, p. 71. 2. Ades, p. 71.

3. Tomkins, Calvin.Duchamp, A Biography. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996, p. 226.

4. Follow this link to read compelling evidence in Rhonda Roland Shearer’s scientific discoveries that reveal the ready-mades are not.

5. Follow this hyperlink to see more evidence by Rhonda Roland Shearer that points to unexpected dimensions in Duchamp’s art.

6. Joselit, David. Infinite Regress, Marcel Duchamp 1910-1914. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1998, p.108.

7. Bonk, Ecke. Marcel Duchamp, The Box in a Valise. New York: Rizzoli, 1989, p. 243.

8. D’Harnoncourt, Anne; McShine, Kynaston (eds.). Marcel Duchamp. Munich: Prestel, 1989, p. 28. Walter Hopps organized the exhibition held at the Pasadena Art Museum between October 8 and November 9, 1963. Duchamp designed the poster and catalog cover for the exhibition.

9. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., 1999, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. “Welch” is a variation of “welsh.” To confirm the existence and match the definition to the era, I have verified in a 1920 copy of Webster’s New International Dictionary that the definition is consistent with its use in the analysis. I have chosen to use the updated version because the tenth edition includes the sense of the word in the 1920s but also gives a more nuanced definition as well as provides the date of its first appearance in the English language.

10. Rhonda Roland Shearer convincingly demonstrates that both of these ready-mades are not simple found objects. In the case ofIn Advance of a Broken Arm, the meeting of the arm to the shovelhead is so fragile that the shovel would break at the neck if used to shovel snow. Furthermore, the shovel scoop is unsupported in the back, thus making it flimsy and unusable as a surface for shoveling. The Hat Rack is equally problematic as a real object as it appears in The Box in a Valise reproduction as an asymmetrical five hooked impossible looking construction. This differs greatly from subsequent versions (i.e. Schwarz) that offer six symmetrical hooks. Follow this link to read about these discoveries in more detail.

11. Follow this link to read more about Duchamp’s word play. Through a collection of excellent examples this article by Steven Jay Gould extensively explores, deciphers and catalogues many of Duchamp’s creative uses of language.

14. The Collins Robert French Dictionary, 1995, New York: HarperCollins, Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert. I should point out that trier comes from the Latin tritare whose French synonym is broyer, to grind as appears in the definition of trier in Le Robert. This connection is difficult to overlook when we consider that Duchamp focuses on the grinding and milling process in three other works, his Chocolate Grinder (Broyeuse de Chocolat) of 1913,Coffee Mill (Moulin a Café) 1911 and Glider Containing a Water Mill in Neighboring Metals of 1913-15. Furthermore, both the Chocolate Grinder and the Water Mill reappear as central images in the Large Glass of 1923. The process of selection as a sorting out of useful and useless (“qu’on broie le grain pour en separer les parties inutilisables”) as well as a generating force (Water Mill) may point to a theme in the Large Glass centering on the creative process itself particularly in terms of idea generation [water mill], filtering [sieves], and whole to parts [grinder].

15. Naumann, Francis. Marcel Duchamp, The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1999, p. 299.

16. Ades, p. 155. 17. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition, 1999, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. To confirm the existence and match the definition to the era, I have verified in a 1920 copy of Webster’s New International Dictionary that the definition is consistent with its use in the analysis. I have chosen to use the updated version because the tenth edition gives a fuller definition outlining the history of the expression as well as providing the date of its first appearance in the English language.

18. Incidentally, Duchamp signed these copies with the inscription “pour copie conforme,” re-written as a homophone in English it yields “poor copy con for me”. By “poor copy” Duchamp may be referring to the growing evidence (by Rhonda Roland Shearer) that the ready-mades are impossible objects whose construction in three dimensions is quite simply impossible since the lost originals, now only seen in photo form, appear to be composite images comprising multiple viewpoints spliced to form one coherent image. The “con for me” reference may thus point to the notion that with every new manifestation of an incorrect three dimensional version of a readymade we grow blinder to the discrepancies in the originals thus the new version serves to support Duchamp’s ruse and thus the con [is made] for him.

19. Naumann, p. 235.

20. Ibid. 21. André Breton from Nauman, p.161.

22. Tomkins, p. 427.

23. Joselit, p.143.

24. d’Harnoncourt, p. 289.

25. In Tomkins, p. 445, Duchamp discusses with the author in 1964 the roughly fifty year cycles that scientific ideas go through before being replaced by newer ideas that challenge everything before them. He also touches on humor as follows: I never could stand the seriousness of life, but when the serious is tinted with humor, it makes a nicer color. Duchamp further explains his position on posterity in 1952 in Bonk, p. 18, from a conversation with Suzanne Duchamp and Jean Crotti: “Artists of all times are like the gamblers of Monte Carlo, and this blind lottery allows some to succeed and ruins others. In my opinion, neither the winners nor the losers are worth worrying about. Everything happens through pure luck. Posterity is a real bitch who cheats some, reinstates others (El Greco) and reserves the right to change her mind every 50 years.”

26. Marcel Duchamp, quoted from: Kuenzli, Rudolf and Francis M. Naumann (eds.). Marcel Duchamp, Artist of the Century. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1989, p. 6. 27. Follow this hyperlink to see the hide and seek Wilson-Lincoln effect illustrated. For Duchamp, the ephemeral nature as well as the relativistic aspect of perception may be central to his oeuvre, where the theme of “now you see it, now you don’t” constantly surfaces. This is consistent with the frustration of trying to grasp multiple viewpoints/meanings simultaneously in Duchamp’s work both with his puns as well as the “impossible ready-mades.”

28. Johns, Jasper. “Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968),” Artforum 7, no. 3. (November 1968), p. 6.

29. Tomkins, p. 397. Duchamp speaks of the artist’s role: the creative act is not performed by the artist alone. The spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.

30. Special thanks to Monsieur André Gervais whose comments during the writing of this article have strengthened the final result.

&lt;I&gt;Excavation Or the Law of Diminishing Returns&lt;/I&gt;

<I>Excavation Or the Law of Diminishing Returns</I>