Marcel Duchamp's Boîte-en-valise: The Museum of Metamorphosis

Bird's eye view

This angle positions the viewer above the screen typically formed by the Boîte's central panel and its pull-outs so that we can see both the bottom tray of the suitcase in which the Boîte is nested, containing the reproduction of Coffee Mill (1911), and the case's top tray, displaying this Boîte-en-valise's "original" (a color guide to the reproduction of the 1912 painting The King and Queen Pursued by Swift Nudes). Rather than underscoring the upright display's ability to delimit space and convincingly suggest a miniature gallery, this photograph, in which the Boîte's left pull-out is not even extended, instead highlights the two lids of the Boîte's outer container, making it easier to see how the display folds up into its carrying case.

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