MARCEL DUCHAMP AND FRANCIS PICABIA

Property from the Collection of Carlos Alberto Cruz

MARCEL DUCHAMP AND FRANCIS PICABIA

L'ÉQUILIBRE. [ALÈS (GARD):] P. A. B., AUGUST 1958

Unbound as issued (6 ¾ x 4 ½ in.; 172 x 114 mm, uncut). Drypoint etching on celluloid by Duchamp. Publisher's printed wrappers with original glassine.

And who is free?

Copy 32 of 40 numbered copies (of a whole edition of 44), initialed by publisher Pierre-André Benoit and with the etching signed by Duchamp.

L'Équilibre is a poem written in Paris in 1917 by Francis Picabia. Arturo Schwarz explains the title and Duchamp's accompanying etching thus: "The words et qui libre? ('and who is free?'), a phonetical rendering of Équilibre, can be read in the 'mirrorical return' of the proof when it is placed in front of a mirror."

REFERENCE:

Lebel 205; Schwarz, Complete Works 559