Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2016 Collectors & Collections: classical to contemporary

Marcel Duchamp and the Arensbergs

Dr Jaime Tsai

27/28 July 2016

Lecture summary:

Walter and Louise Arensberg’s contribution to the early twentieth century reception of avant-garde art in America is still underappreciated and relatively unknown. Although they had amassed over 800 exceptional works of art in their lifetime, they were notoriously unforthcoming, and interviews and photographs with the couple were exceptionally rare. This lecture seeks to bring their contributions to light, especially in regards to the legacy of , whose works were the most prized of their collection, and whose friendship was integral to the art objects they obtained, their avant-garde milieu, and where their collection was eventually bequeathed.

Slide list:

1. Anonymous, The Duchamp Brothers, 1913, black and white photographic print, 11 x 17cm, Smithsonian Institution collections 2. Henri Matisse, Blue Nude, (souvenir of Biskra), 1907, Oil on canvas. 92.1 x 140.4 cm, The Baltimore Museum of Art and Henri Matisse, L’ Atelier Rouge, (The red studio), 1911 oil on canvas, 181 x 219.1 cm, Museum of Modern Art 3. , The Dance at the Spring, 1912, oil on canvas, 120.5 x 120.6 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 4. Albert Gleizes, L'Homme au Balcon, Man on a Balcony (Portrait of Dr. Théo Morinaud), 1912, oil on canvas, 195.6 × 114.9 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 5. Georges Braque, Violin: "Mozart Kubelick", 1912, oil on canvas, 45.7 x 61 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 6. Wassily Kandinsky Improvisation 27 (Garden of Love II), 1912, oil on canvas, 47 3/8 x 55 1/4 in. (120.3 x 140.3 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 7. Henri Rousseau, Cheval attaqué par un jaguar (Jaguar Attacking a Horse), 1910 oil on canvas, 116 x 90 cm, Pushkin Museum, Moscow 8. Paul Gauguin, Parau na te Varua ino (Words of the Devil), 1892, oil on canvas, overall: 91.7 x 68.5 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C. 9. Vincent van Gogh, Mountains at Saint-Rémy, July 1889, Oil on canvas, 28 1/4 x 35 3/4 inches (71.8 x 90.8 cm), Guggenheim, New York 10. Marcel Duchamp, Nude descending a staircase (no.2), 1912, oil on canvas, 147 x 89.2 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 11. J. F. Griswold, The Rude Descending a Staircase (Rush Hour at the Subway), New York Evening Sun, March 20, 1913 12. Marcel Duchamp, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass), 1915-1923, Oil, vanish, lead foil, lead wire, and dust on two glass panels (cracked), each mounted between two glass panels, with five glass strips, aluminium foil, and wood and steel frame, 277.5cm x 176cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine S. Dreier

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13. Henri-Pierre Roché, Photograph of Duchamp’s 33 West 67th Street Studio (with the artist), New York, 1917 14. Anonymous, photograph of Picabia (at wheel), Gabrielle (hood), Walter (running board) Louise (standing), and Henri-Pierre Roché (behind), New York, 1917 15. Anonymous, photograph of Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia and at Coney Island, New York, 1917 16. , Three Heads ( and Marcel Duchamp, painting bust portrait of Man Ray above Duchamp), 1920, gelatin silver print, 20.7 x 15.7 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York 17. Anonymous, The Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven in her Greenwich Village apartment, December, 1915 18. Marcel Duchamp, , 1917, Readymade urinal signed with pseudonym “R. Mutt.” Original lost, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz 19. Duchamp, Comb, 1916, Steel dog comb, 3.2 x 16.5 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 20. Marcel Duchamp, With Hidden Noise, 1916, Ball of twine between two brass plates, joined by four long screws, containing unknown object added by Walter Arensberg, 12.7 x 12.7 x 13 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia 21. Marcel Duchamp, 50 cc of Paris Air, 1919, Glass ampoule (broken and later restored), 13.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 22. Man Ray, Rrose Sélavy, photograph of Marcel Duchamp, 1921, Gelatin silver print, 21.6 x 17.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 23. Six photographs by Fred R. Dapprich of the Arensbergs' Hollywood home, 1944, Arensberg archives, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 24. Beatrice Wood, Louise Arensberg and Walter Conrad Arensberg with Marcel Duchamp during his first visit to the couple's Hollywood home, August 17, 1936, Arensberg Archives, Library. 25. Marcel Duchamp, notes on locations of sold works, Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives 26. Reconstruction of Frederick Kiesler’s design for Art of This Century, 1942, in Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler, County Museum of Art, 1997, Los Angeles CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) 27. Marcel Duchamp, Etant Donnés: 1º la chute d’eau 2º le gaz d’éclairage (Given- 1. The waterfall, 2. The illuminating gas), 1946-64, front view of the installation mixed media assemblage: wooden door, bricks, velvet, wood, leather stretched over an armature of metal, twigs, aluminium, iron, glass, Plexiglas, linoleum, cotton, motor, electric lights, gas lamp (Bec Auer type), 242.6 x 177.8 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 28. Duchamp, Given- 1. The waterfall, 2- The illuminating gas, 1946-64, view through the door of the installation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia 29. Irving Penn, Marcel Duchamp, 1948, Gelatin silver print, 24.3 x 18.9 cm, National Portrait Gallery

Reference:

Duchamp, Marcel, Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp, ed. Pierre Cabanne, trans. Ron Padgett (New York: Da Capo Press, 1971)

Duchamp, Marcel, The Writings of Marcel Duchamp, eds. Michel Sanouillet and Elmer Peterson (New York: Da Capo Press, 1973)

Sawelson-Gorse, Naomi, ‘The and the Arensberg Collection’, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 19, No. 1 (1993): 80-101, 107-111

Tomkins, Calvin, Duchamp: a Biography (New York: H. Holt, 1996)

For access to all past lecture notes visit: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/current-members/member-events/collectors/