Moonlight on the Bay at Basswood

Currently not on view

Moonlight on the Bay at Basswood

1953

Marcel Duchamp (American (born France), 1887–1968)

This work depicts the ragged skyline of white pines at the west end of Basswood Bay in rural Minnesota, where Duchamp visited Frank Brookes Hubachek (the brother of his longtime companion Mary Reynolds) in the summer of 1953. Working without artist's materials, Duchamp created Moonlight on the Bay at Basswood on the blotter of a correspondence pad, using a fountain pen and pencil for the trees and shadows, a yellow crayon for the moon and its reflection, and talcum powder for the bay's white mists. Perhaps most ingeniously, he shaded in the heavy brown shadows in the pine trees with a chocolate bar.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Moonlight on the Bay at Basswood

Date:

1953

Artist:

Marcel Duchamp (American (born France), 1887–1968)

Medium:

Black ink, graphite pencil, wax crayon, talcum powder, and chocolate on blue blotting paper

Dimensions:

Sheet: 10 3/8 x 7 1/4 inches (26.4 x 18.4 cm)

Classification:

Drawings

Credit Line:

Gift of Frank Brookes Hubachek, 1974

Accession Number:

1974-176-1

Geography:

Made in Basswood, Minnesota, United States, North and Central America

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Currently not on view