Moonlight on the Bay at Basswood
Marcel Duchamp, American (born France), 1887 - 1968
Geography:
Made in Basswood, Minnesota, United States, North and Central America
Date:
1953Medium:
Black ink, graphite pencil, wax crayon, talcum powder, and chocolate on blue blotting paperDimensions:
Sheet: 10 3/8 x 7 1/4 inches (26.4 x 18.4 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Estate of Marcel DuchampCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
1974-176-1Credit Line:
Gift of Frank Brookes Hubachek, 1974
Made in Basswood, Minnesota, United States, North and Central America
Date:
1953Medium:
Black ink, graphite pencil, wax crayon, talcum powder, and chocolate on blue blotting paperDimensions:
Sheet: 10 3/8 x 7 1/4 inches (26.4 x 18.4 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Estate of Marcel DuchampCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1974-176-1Credit Line:
Gift of Frank Brookes Hubachek, 1974
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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.
