Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) and Man Ray (1890-1976)
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's… Read more
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) and Man Ray (1890-1976)

Frames from an Uncompleted Stereoscopic Film

Details
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) and Man Ray (1890-1976)

Frames from an Uncompleted Stereoscopic Film
stereoscope containing two frames of photographic film in a wooden box, 1925-1973, signed by Man Ray in blue ballpoint pen on a label under glass on the box lid, stamped with Duchamp's signature and signed by his wife Teeny Duchamp on a label under glass inside the lid, copy no. 1 from the edition of ten, published in 1973, generally in good condition
Box 183 x 160 x 114 mm.
Provenance
Enrico Pedrini Collection, Genoa; then by descent to the present owner.
Literature
Schwarz (1997) 410
Special Notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.
Sale Room Notice
Jacqueline Matisse Monnier and the Association Marcel Duchamp have confirmed the authenticity of this work.

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Alice L'Estrange
Alice L'Estrange

Lot Essay

The two frames of film contained in the stereoscope are the scarce remnants of a film shot by Duchamp and Man Ray, presumably in 1925 (although both artists recall this to have occurred earlier). The idea was to shoot Duchamp's kinetic object Rotary Demisphere (Precision Optics) (Schwarz 409) of 1925, a rotating half-sphere painted with eccentric circles, with two cameras from two viewpoints through a red and green lense, in order to create a 3-D film projection. Unfortunately, the majority of the footage was destroyed in the developing process and only a few frames survived, which ultimately found a place inside this whimsically nostalgic multiple, published in a tiny edition in 1973.

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