Portrait (Dulcinea)
Marcel Duchamp, American (born France), 1887 - 1968
Geography:
Made in France, Europe
Date:
1911Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
57 5/8 x 44 7/8 inches (146.4 x 114 cm) Framed: 60 1/2 x 47 7/8 x 2 3/8 inches (153.7 x 121.6 x 6 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Estate of Marcel DuchampCuratorial Department:
Modern ArtObject Location:
1950-134-54Credit Line:
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
Made in France, Europe
Date:
1911Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
57 5/8 x 44 7/8 inches (146.4 x 114 cm) Framed: 60 1/2 x 47 7/8 x 2 3/8 inches (153.7 x 121.6 x 6 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Estate of Marcel DuchampCuratorial Department:
Modern ArtObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1950-134-54Credit Line:
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
Label:
This work is an erotic examination of time and movement, a portrait of a mysterious woman that Duchamp noticed on the street and imagined in various states of undress. Studying Étienne-Jules Marey’s (French, 1830 - 1904) and Eadweard Muybridge’s (American (born England), 1830 - 1904) experiments in chronophotography and beginning to develop a formal language for depicting motion in painting, Duchamp portrayed his invented character of Dulcinea here in five successive positions—each bearing less clothing, as if stripped over time. Presenting a series of static images to resemble the frames of a motion picture, Duchamp invites the viewer to animate them mentally into a fluid movement. The resulting motion portrait prefigures both his Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1950-134-59), painted in January 1912, and the Bride at the center of The Large Glass (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1952-98-1).
This work is an erotic examination of time and movement, a portrait of a mysterious woman that Duchamp noticed on the street and imagined in various states of undress. Studying Étienne-Jules Marey’s (French, 1830 - 1904) and Eadweard Muybridge’s (American (born England), 1830 - 1904) experiments in chronophotography and beginning to develop a formal language for depicting motion in painting, Duchamp portrayed his invented character of Dulcinea here in five successive positions—each bearing less clothing, as if stripped over time. Presenting a series of static images to resemble the frames of a motion picture, Duchamp invites the viewer to animate them mentally into a fluid movement. The resulting motion portrait prefigures both his Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1950-134-59), painted in January 1912, and the Bride at the center of The Large Glass (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1952-98-1).
