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

Boîte (Series B) at the Centre Pompidou

Tombstone, translated from French: Marcel Duchamp (1887, France - 1968, France), 1936-1941, La Boîte-en-valise; Object; Brown leather attaché case containing a system of elements folding out into space, including reproductions and miniature objects which together (68 or 69 items) constitute a scaled-down museum representing the nearly complete œuvre of Marcel Duchamp between 1910 and 1937. Black and white and color reproductions on paper, sometimes varnished, cut or stamped, on acetate, photographs and miniatures in glass, oilcloth and porcelain; Supports: plywood, leather, cardboard, copper; Works: black and white or color reproductions on paper (varnished, cut, and stamped) and on acetate, photographs, miniatures in glass, oilcloth and porcelain; 40,5 x 37 x 9,5 cm; Series B, assembled in New York during the war by Joseph Cornell, Xenia Cage and Patricia Matta Cane. Contains 68 items? Acquisition, 2003, Centre Pompidou, Paris

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1. Close-up of the right pull-out [tirette] of a series B Boîte
2. Boîte-en-valise II/XX, at the National Galleries, Scotland
3. Boîte (Series B) at the Centre Pompidou Tombstone, translated from French: Marcel Duchamp (1887, France - 1968, France), 1936-1941, La Boîte-en-valise; Object; Brown leather attaché case containing a system of elements folding out into space, including reproductions and miniature objects which together (68 or 69 items) constitute a scaled-down museum representing the nearly complete œuvre of Marcel Duchamp between 1910 and 1937. Black and white and color reproductions on paper, sometimes varnished, cut or stamped, on acetate, photographs and miniatures in glass, oilcloth and porcelain; Supports: plywood, leather, cardboard, copper; Works: black and white or color reproductions on paper (varnished, cut, and stamped) and on acetate, photographs, miniatures in glass, oilcloth and porcelain; 40,5 x 37 x 9,5 cm; Series B, assembled in New York during the war by Joseph Cornell, Xenia Cage and Patricia Matta Cane. Contains 68 items? Acquisition, 2003, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Contents of this annotation:
1. Boîte (Series B) at the Centre Pompidou Tombstone, translated from French: Marcel Duchamp (1887, France - 1968, France), 1936-1941, La Boîte-en-valise; Object; Brown leather attaché case containing a system of elements folding out into space, including reproductions and miniature objects which together (68 or 69 items) constitute a scaled-down museum representing the nearly complete œuvre of Marcel Duchamp between 1910 and 1937. Black and white and color reproductions on paper, sometimes varnished, cut or stamped, on acetate, photographs and miniatures in glass, oilcloth and porcelain; Supports: plywood, leather, cardboard, copper; Works: black and white or color reproductions on paper (varnished, cut, and stamped) and on acetate, photographs, miniatures in glass, oilcloth and porcelain; 40,5 x 37 x 9,5 cm; Series B, assembled in New York during the war by Joseph Cornell, Xenia Cage and Patricia Matta Cane. Contains 68 items? Acquisition, 2003, Centre Pompidou, Paris

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3. Boîte-en-valise 0/XX (hors série), for Mary Reynolds, at the Art Institute of Chicago Duchamp inscribed this Boîte-en-valise, one of the four deluxe Boîtes that he produced outside the official edition of twenty, to his lover Mary Reynolds in May 1941. Reynolds, a bookbinder, helped Duchamp design the box used for the Boîtes when the architecture that he had initially envisioned proved too frail. While Duchamp left Paris and eventually France following the Nazi occupation, Reynolds remained in the capital and supported the French Resistance. For its “original,” this Boîte contains a color-guide for the pochoir reproduction of Sonata (1938), a painting that depicts Duchamp’s sisters playing music in front of their deaf mother at their home in Rouen. Click to see tombstone information.
4. Boîte-en-valise 0/XX (hors série), for Katherine Dreier, at the Yale University Art Gallery
5. Boîte-en-valise 0/XX (hors série), for Walter and Lou Arensberg, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
6. Boîte-en-valise I/XX, for Peggy Guggenheim, at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice
7. Boîte-en-valise II/XX, at the National Galleries, Scotland
8. Boîte-en-valise IV/XX, for Henrietta Gomes, at Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole
9. Boîte-en-valise IX/XX, for the MoMA, at the MoMA In 1942, Duchamp inscribed this Boîte-en-valise to the Museum of Modern Art, which had opened in New York in November 1929, nine years after the founding of the Société Anonyme, subtitled “Museum of Modern Art,” by Duchamp, Man Ray, and Katherine Dreier. While Dreier took exception to what she regarded as the later (and better funded) institution’s co-opting of her ideas, Duchamp entertained friendlier relations with the MoMA. Acting as an executor of Dreier’s estate after her death in 1952, he bequeathed three of his works from her collection to the museum: 3 Standard Stoppages (1913-1914), To Be Looked At (From the Other Side of the Glass) with One Eye, Close To, for Almost an Hour (1918), and Fresh Widow (1920). This Boîte-en-valise contains a color guide for the reproduction of the top half of the Large Glass as its original. Click to see tombstone.
10. Boîte-en-valise XVII/XX, inscribed to the Yale University Art Gallery
11. Boîte-en-valise XX/XX, for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam
12. Boîte, Series F (1966), at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
13. Boîte (Series B) at the Centre Pompidou Tombstone, translated from French: Marcel Duchamp (1887, France - 1968, France), 1936-1941, La Boîte-en-valise; Object; Brown leather attaché case containing a system of elements folding out into space, including reproductions and miniature objects which together (68 or 69 items) constitute a scaled-down museum representing the nearly complete œuvre of Marcel Duchamp between 1910 and 1937. Black and white and color reproductions on paper, sometimes varnished, cut or stamped, on acetate, photographs and miniatures in glass, oilcloth and porcelain; Supports: plywood, leather, cardboard, copper; Works: black and white or color reproductions on paper (varnished, cut, and stamped) and on acetate, photographs, miniatures in glass, oilcloth and porcelain; 40,5 x 37 x 9,5 cm; Series B, assembled in New York during the war by Joseph Cornell, Xenia Cage and Patricia Matta Cane. Contains 68 items? Acquisition, 2003, Centre Pompidou, Paris
14. Boîte (Series B) at the Archive of the Avant-Garde, Dresden
15. Boîte (Series B) at the Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota
16. Boîte (Series B) at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea
17. Boîte (Series B) at SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
18. Boîte (Series B) at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam
19. Boîte (Series B) at the Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis
20. Boîte (Series C, 1961) at the Centre Pompidou Tombstone, translated from French: Marcel Duchamp (1887, France - 1968, France), La Boîte-en-valise, 1936-1941, Object; Cardboard box folding into three parts, covered with beige cloth, containing miniature replicas of works, 69 items (photographs and documents, facsimiles); Cardboard, wood, paper, plastic; 40 x 37,5 x 8,2 cm; Série C, assembled by Iliazd in 1958; Purchase, 1964; Centre Pompidou, Paris
21. Boîte (Series C, 1958) at the Musées royaux des Beaux-arts de Belgique in Brussels
22. Boîte (Series C, 1958) at the Baltimore Museum of Art
23. Boîte (Series ?, probably C) at the National Gallery of Canada
24. Boîte (Series D, 1961) at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, CA
25. Boîte (Series D, 1961) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Tombstone: Marcel Duchamp (American (born France), Blainville 1887-1968 Neuilly-sur-Seine), Boîte-en-valise (De ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy), 1935-1941/1961, Sixty-eight miniature replicas and reproductions of works by Duchamp in a cloth-covered cardboard box, Height: 15 7/8 in (40.3 cm), Width: 14 15/16 x 3 9/16 in. (37.9 x 9 cm), Depth: 3 9/16 in. (9 cm), John B. Turner Fund, 1968, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
27. Boîte (Series D, 1961) at the National Gallery of Art Marcel Duchamp (artist), American, born France, 1887-1968, Boîte-en-valise, 1961, Green linen-covered case containing 68 miniature replicas, photographs, black and white and color reproductions of works by Marcel Duchamp; overall (closed): 40.5 x 37.2 x 8.6 cm (15 15/16 x 14 5/8 x 3 3/8 in.); overall (open): 88.3 x 37.2 x 40.3 cm (34 3/4 x 14 5/8 x 15 7/8 in.), Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
28. Boîte (Series D, 1961) at the Denver Art Museum
29. Boîte (Series D, 1961) at the Minneapolis Institute of Art Tombstone: Marcel Duchamp, American (born France), 1887-1968; Publisher: Marcel Duchamp; Fabricator: Assembled by Jacqueline Monnier, Paris; Boîte-en-valise (Box in a Valise)/De ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy (From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy), conceived 1936-1941; assembled 1961; Linen-covered box containing mixed media assemblage/collage of miniature replicas, photographs, and color reproductions of works by Duchamp; 16 x 143/4 x 3 3/16 in. (40.64 x 37.47 x 8.1 cm), Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
30. Boîte (Series D, 1961) at the Pérez Art Museum Miami
31. Boîte (Series D, 1961) at the Fondazione MUSEION. Museo d'arte moderna e contemporanea Bolzano in Bolzano, Italy
32. Boîte (Series E) at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm
33. Boîte (Series E) at the Cincinnati Art Museum Marcel Duchamp (American, b. 1887, d. 1968), Box in a Valise [Boîte-en-valise] From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy [de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy], 1934-1941; 1963; green leather valise containing miniature replicas, photographs, and color reproductions of works by Duchamp; valise 15 7/8 x 14 7/8 x 3 5/8 in. (40.3 x 37.8 x 9.2 cm), Gift of Anne W. Harrison and Family in memory of Agnes Sattler Harrison and Alexina "Teeny" Sattler Duchamp, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
34. Boîte (Series E) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
35. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art - Gift of Anne d'Harnoncourt, 1994 Tombstone: Marcel Duchamp (American (born France), 1887-1968), From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy (Box in a Valise), [de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy (Boîte-en-valise)], 1935-1941, 1963-1965 (contents); Series F, 1966 edition, Red leather valise containing miniature replicas and color reproductions of works by Duchamp made of various media on various supports: collotype, relief halftone, screenprint, offset lithograph, photograph with surface coating, printed color and hand coloring on paper, cardboard, clear acetate, vinyl, glass, and ceramic, Valise (closed): 16 x 15 x 4 inches (40.6 x 38.1 x 10.2 cm), Assembled in Paris, Case made in Milan, Gift of Anne d'Harnoncourt, 1994, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
36. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art - Gift of Mme Marcel Duchamp (i.e., Alexina "Teeny" Duchamp), 1994 Tombstone: Marcel Duchamp (American (born France), 1887-1968), From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy (Box in a Valise) [de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy (Boîte-en-valise)], 1935-1941, 1963-1965 (contents); Series F, 1966 edition, Red leather valise containing various media on various supports: collotype, relief halftone, screenprint, offset lithograph, photograph with surface coating, printed color and hand coloring on paper, cardboard, clear acetate, vinyl, glass, and ceramic, Valise (closed): 16 1/4 x 15 1/8 x 3 3/4 inches (41.3 x 38.4 x 9.5 cm), Made in Paris and Milan, Gift of Mme Marcel Duchamp, 1994, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
37. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at MoMA Tombstone: Marcel Duchamp, From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy (The Box in a Valise) (de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy) (Boîte-en-valise), published 1966, reproductions produced 1935-1940 and 1963-66, Leather valise containing 80 miniature reproductions, and photographs of works by Duchamp, composition and sheet (see individual components): dimensions vary; case (closed): 3 11/16 x 15 3/16 x 16 1/4" (9.4 x 38.5 x 41.2 cm); overall (opened): 15 3/4 x 15 3/16 x 36 1/8" (40 x 38.5 x 91.7 cm), Publisher: Galleria Schwarz, Milan; Printer: Galleria Schwarz, Milan; Fabricator: Jacqueline Matisse Monnier; Edition of 75,; Gift of the artist, MoMA, New York, NY
39. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Centre Pompidou Tombstone, translated from French: Marcel Duchamp (1887, France - 1968, France), La Boîte-en-valise, 1936-1941; Places of Production: Paris 1936 - New York 1941; Object; Cardboard box covered with red leather containing miniature replicas of works, 69 photos, facsimiles or reproductions of paintings, pasted to black folders; 41,7 x 38,5 x 9,7 cm; Box unfolded for presentation: 102 x 92 x 40 cm (length x width x height); Series F, assembled by Jacqueline Matisse-Monnier in 1966; Purchase, 1976; Centre Pompidou, Paris
40. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Whitney Museum of American Art
41. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Cleveland Museum of Art
42. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne
43. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin
44. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Portland Art Museum
45. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College
46. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
47. Boîte (Series F, 1966) at the Fonds régional d'art contemporain (FRAC) Poitou-Charentes
48. Boîte (Series G, 1968) at the Musée d'art moderne de Paris
49. Boîte (Series G, 1968) at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm
50. Boîte (unknown series) at the National Museum of Art, Osaka

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The Seven Series of Boîtes Duchamp issued his Boîtes, numbering between 296 and 311 in total, in seven editions, conventionally identified with the letters A-G: one deluxe edition (series A, issued 1941-1949) and six standard editions. For each standard series, he selected a different color scheme, making them fairly simple to distinguish from one another. Scroll through the gallery of sample Boîtes to read about the particular features of each series and the modifications that Duchamp made to the Boîte between editions.