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This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2002 May 13 @ 16:00UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
MARCEL DUCHAMP (1887-1968) WHY NOT SNEEZE ROSE SÉLAVY? signed and dated in reverse "Marcel Duchamp 1964" in black ink on the bottom rear; titled and dated "WHY NOT SNEEZE ROSE SÉLAVé? 1921" in black paper-tape letters affixed to the underside with transparent tape; inscribed "Marcel Duchamp 1964 Ex Arturo" and engraved "WHY NOT SNEEZE?, 1921 EDITION GALERIE SCHWARZ, MILAN" on a copper plate affixed to artist's wooden storage case 152 marble cubes, a thermometer and a cuttlebone in a small wood and metal birdcage with artist's wood storage case birdcage: 43/4 x 81/2 x 63/8 in. (12 x 21.6 x 16 cm) artist's wooden storage case: 57/8 x 93/8 x 75/8 in. (14.9 x 23.6 x 19.3 cm) executed 1921-1964 The original, produced in 1921, is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the present lot was produced under the artist's supervision after photographs and other documentation provided by the Philadelphia Museum of Art; it is an artist's proof, dedicated to Arturo Schwarz, from an edition of eight plus two replicas reserved for the artist and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in addition to two replicas made for museum exhibition purposes. ESTIMATE: - $400,000-600,000 In 1921, Dorothea Dreier, Katherine Dreier's sister, commissioned a work from Duchamp giving him carte blanche to do whatever he wished. The result was a small wire birdcage that he painted in white, filled with 152 cubes of white marble cut to the size of sugar lumps served in French restaurants at the time. Among the cubes Duchamp inserted a fever thermometer and a piece of cuttlebone. The birdcage, however, was not to the liking of either sister and Duchamp was asked to find a new buyer. Walter Arensberg eventually bought the piece in 1937 for the original amount of $300 and Dorothea got her money back. In an interview on French television in 1963, Duchamp remarked: "The cage with sugar cubes is called Why Not Sneeze..? and, of course, the title seems weird to you since there really is no connection between the sugar cubes and the sneeze... First of all there is the dissociational gap between the idea of sneezing and the idea of... Why Not Sneeze? Because, after all, you don't sneeze at will! And then there is the literary side, if I may call it that... but 'literary' is such a stupid word... It doesn't mean anything... but at any rate there is the marble with its coldness, and this means that you can even say you are cold, because of the marble, and all the associations are permissible." (A. Schwarz, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF MARCEL DUCHAMP, New York, 2000, p. 690.) PROVENANCE Dedicated by the artist to Arturo Schwarz, 1964 EXHIBITED SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands, Ateneo, EXPOSICION SURREALISTA, May 11-21, 1935, no. 65 (another example exhibited) PARIS, Galerie Charles Ratton, EXPOSITION SURREALISTE D'OBJETS, May 22-29, 1936 NEW YORK, The Museum of Modern Art, FANTASTIC ART, DADA, SURREALISM, December 7, 1936-January 17, 1937, no. 224 (another example exhibited) STOCKHOLM, Galerie Burén, DUCHAMP RÉTROSPECTIVE, April-May 1963 (another example exhibited) Pasadena, Pasadena Museum of Art, MARCEL DUCHAMP: A RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION, October 8-November 3, 1963, no. 69 (another example exhibited) NEW YORK, Cordier & Ekstrom, NOT SEEN AND/OR LESS SEEN OF/BY MARCEL DUCHAMP/RROSE SÉLAVY, 1904-64, January 14-February 13, 1965, no. 72 (another example exhibited) THE HAGUE, Gemeentemuseum, MARCEL DUCHAMP: SCHILDERN, TEKENINGEN, READY-MADES, DOCUMENTEN, February 3-March 15, 1965, no. 62 (another example exhibited) LONDON, The Tate Gallery, THE ALMOST COMPLETE WORKS OF MARCEL DUCHAMP, June 18-July 31, 1966, no. 144 (another example exhibited) JERUSALEM, The Israel Museum, MARCEL DUCHAMP: drawings, etchings for the large glass, readymades, March-May 1972 (another example exhibited) PHILADELPHIA, Philadelphia Museum of Art; NEW YORK, The Museum of Modern Art and CHICAGO, The Art Institute of Chicago, MARCEL DUCHAMP, September 22, 1973-April 21, 1974, no. 141 (another example exhibited) PARIS, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre national d'art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, L'OEUVRE DE MARCEL DUCHAMP, January 31- May 2, 1977, no. 130 (another example exhibited) VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Vancouver Art Gallery, DUCHAMP READYMADES, April 29-June 4, 1978 (another example exhibited) OTTAWA, Alberta College of Art, MARCEL DUCHAMP: READYMADES, ETC., October 16-November 15, 1979, p. 37 (another example exhibited) BARCELONA, Fundació Joan Miró; MADRID, Sala de Exposiciones de la Caja de Pensiones and COLOGNE, Museum Ludwig, DUCHAMP, February 29-August 19, 1984, no. 89 (another example exhibited) MILAN, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, MARCEL DUCHAMP, LA SPOSA ... E I READYMADE, May 20-July 10, 1988, p. 66, no. 67 (another example illustrated) ANTWERP, Galerie Ronny van de Velde, MARCEL DUCHAMP, September 15-December 15, 1991 (present lot exhibited) VENICE, Palazzo Grassi, MARCEL DUCHAMP, April 4-July 18, 1993, p. 79 (another example exhibited) LITERATURE R. Lebel, SUR MARCEL DUCHAMP, PARIS, 1959, pl. 96 (another example illustrated) W. Hopps, U. Linde and A. Schwarz, MARCEL DUCHAMP: READY-MADES, ETC. (1913-1964), MILAN, 1964, p. 32, no. 21 (another example illustrated) A. Schwarz, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF MARCEL DUCHAMP, NEW YORK, 1969, p. 486, no. 274 (another example illustrated) P. Cabanne, Les 3 Duchamp: jacques Villon, raymond Duchamp-villon, Marcel Duchamp, Paris, 1975, p. 153 (another example illustrated) A. Schwarz, MARCEL DUCHAMP, NEW YORK, 1975, pl. 126 (another example illustrated) T. Zaunschirm, BEREITES MÄDCHEN READY-MADE, KLAGENFURT, 1983, p. 129, fig. 38 (another example illustrated) J.-C. Bailly, DUCHAMP, NEW YORK, 1986, p. 40 (another example illustrated) U. Linde, MARCEL DUCHAMP, STOCKHOLM, 1986, p. 59 (another example illustrated) G. Moure, MARCEL DUCHAMP, LONDON, 1988, p. 18 (another example illustrated) M. Partouche, MARCEL DUCHAMP: UNE VIE D'ARTISTE, MARSEILLE, 1991, p. 136 (Duchamp's home installation) E. Jaguer and J.-J. Lebel, AFTER DUCHAMP, PARIS, 1991, p. 87 (another example illustrated) P. Hulten, ed., MARCEL DUCHAMP: WORK AND LIFE, CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, 1993, p. 79, fig. 1.9.1921 (another example illustrated) J. Mink, MARCEL DUCHAMP 1887-1968: ART AS ANTI-ART, COLOGNE, 1995, p. 9 (this work illustrated) D. Joselit, INFINITE REGRESS: MARCEL DUCHAMP, 1910-1941, CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, 1998, p. 165, fig. 4.4 (another example illustrated) D. Ades, N. Cox and D. Hopkins, MARCEL DUCHAMP, LONDON, 1999, (other examples illustrated, p. 164, no. 126 and p. 181, no. 142) F. M. Naumann, MARCEL DUCHAMP, THE ART OF MAKING ART IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION, NEW YORK, 1999 (other examples illustrated, p. 87, fig. 83.46 and p. 226, fig. 8.30) A. Schwarz, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF MARCEL DUCHAMP, NEW YORK, 2000, pp. 690-691, no. 391 (another example illustrated)
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United States
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Viewing in Chelsea Saturday May 4, 2002 - Sun
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