Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise, or “box in a suitcase,” is the artist’s retrospective of his own work in miniature. The project includes reproductions of 68 objects and is similar in presentation to cases used by travelling salesmen at the time.
Included in the box are reproductions of Duchamp paintings as well as the work for which he is most well-known, his “readymades,”: pre-existing objects such as a snow shovel, a bottle rack, and a urinal, that he selected, purchased, sometimes altered, and then designated as works of art. Through these readymades, Duchamp critiqued ideas about originality, the value of the hand of the artist in creating an artwork, and the role that an art gallery or museum plays in validating what is considered art. In a provocative twist, all of Duchamp’s paintings in Boîte-en-valise are mechanically reproduced while all of the miniature readymades are handcrafted.
Identification
Title
Boîte-en-valise (De ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy) (Box in a Valise (From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy))
Production Date
1941/1961
Object Number
2000.22a-r
Credit Line
Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, museum purchase with funds provided by Lang Baumgarten, Mimi Floback, and Sally Ashton Story in memory of Jon Ashton
Linen-covered box containing 68 miniature replicas and color reproductions of works by Duchamp
Dimensions
Closed: 3 1/2 x 14 5/8 x 15 15/16 inches
Visual Description
Boîte-en-valise (de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy) by Marcel Duchamp is a box covered in linen that contains sixty eight miniature replicas and reproductions of works by the artist. The box measures roughly fifteen inches by sixteen inches by three and a half inches when closed.
When displayed, different pieces are able to be seen. Some examples of works within the box include: Nude Descending a Staircase, Paris Air, Underwood, and Fountain. When the box is opened, the frame forms a letter “M” for the artist’s name. The main structure of the frame contains five rectangular sections. Four of them are equal in dimensions while the last is tall and narrow. Within the frames of the four equal sections are four distinct 2-D reproductions. They are all abstractions. The tall and narrow section to the left contains three small replicas of sculptures. One is a small glass vial with a hook, a black pouch, and a urinal.
The reproduction of Nude Descending a Staircase, which is an abstraction of skin-colored lines and rectangles, is housed within a book or portfolio and when on display, the book is opened and sits upright. The remaining reproductions lay on the cushioned interior of the box’s cover. One of the pieces is L.H.O.O.Q, which is a postcard of the Mona Lisa but with a moustache painted on her face.
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp — b. 1887, Blainville, France; d. 1968, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France Artist Page