Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), France, active in United States, Box in a Valise from or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy (Boîte-en-valise de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy), conceived 1935–41, edition E assembled in Paris in 1963, green linen imitation leather covered box containing mixedmedia assemblage/collage of miniature replicas, photographs, and color reproductions of works by Duchamp, Gift of Anne W. Harrison and Family in memory of Agnes Sattler Harrison and Alexina “Teeny” Sattler Duchamp, 2016.305
Iconic conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp wanted art to challenge expectations and make people think. A pioneer of Dada and the father of Conceptual Art, Duchamp was a French-American painter, sculptor, chess player and writer. On view publically for the first time, Marcel Duchamp: Boîte-en-valise runs through May 6, 2018, at the Cincinnati Art Museum. This free special feature unveils a rare “portable museum” containing 68 small-scale replicas and models of Marcel Duchamp’s works, featuring paintings, drawings, objects and “ready-mades.” A term coined by Duchamp, “ready-mades” are everyday objects re-contextualized as artwork. “Duchamp is considered one of the most important artists of the twentieth century... His ‘ready-mades’ overturned ideas of originality in art, raising questions about authorship, authenticity and the aura of the unique object,” says Kristin Spangenberg, Cincinnati Art Museum Curator of Prints.
Duchamp married Cincinnati native Alexina “Teeny” Sattler in 1954, and gave the Series E Boîte-en-valise to her sister and husband in Cincinnati. The artwork was donated to the museum in 2016.
For more information, visit http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/
