MARCEL DUCHAMP | Nu déscendant un escalier no. 2

Luhring Augustine & Hodes Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1987

New York, Luhring, Augustine & Hodes Gallery, Remembering Marcel, 1887 - 1987, 1987, n.n.

Ecke Bonk, Marcel Duchamp, The Box in a Valise, de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy, New York, 1989, no. 10, illustration of another example p. 212
Francis M. Naumann, Marcel Duchamp, The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, New York, 2000, illustration of another example fig. 5.20
Arturo Schwarz, The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp,  New York, 2000, vol. I, no. 458, illustration of another example p. 745

Executed on thick cream wove paper, not laid down. The sheet is hinged to the mount on the verso of the upper left and right corners and is floating in its mount. The sheet is very lightly time-stained and there are two faint spots of foxing towards the lower left corner. There is a small flattened crease running diagonally across the lower left corner. The ink signature is slightly faded. This work is in good overall condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1912 Marcel Duchamp executed his most radical and significant early work. Now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nu déscendant un escalier no. 2, a kaleidoscopic exploration of movement painted in a Cubo-Futurist style, was intended to be exhibited in the year of its execution at the Salon des indépendants in Paris, but its literary title and unconventional approach led Duchamp to withdraw the work after receiving critical comments from Albert Gleizes and other 'hard-line' Cubists. The following year Duchamp submitted the painting to the now-famous 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art—known as the Armory Show—in New York, where it caused a great sensation. Lampooned by the critics but admired by a number of influential collectors, Nu déscendant un escalier no. 2 established Duchamp at the forefront of the avant-garde. By 1937, painting had long ceased to be a part of Duchamp’s artistic practice and his incisive and experimental Ready-mades and subversive objects had transformed the way in which the creation of art was determined. However, during the summer of 1937 Duchamp was prompted to create a miniature retrospective in the form of pochoir reproductions housed in a Boîte-en-Valise. The expense of commissioning the carefully prepared stencils and skilled hand-colouring led Duchamp to consider publishing an edition of 250 reproductions of each of the five chosen works. Ultimately, only Nu déscendant un escalier no. 2 and Le Grand verre (The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even) were created, and in such small editions that the exact number of pochoirs remains unknown.

The question of authenticity and originality had long played a part in Duchamp's conceptual works, and he brought these ideas to bear in the pochoir reproductions. Standard practice in France when authenticating legal documents—of which Duchamp was well aware due to his father’s position as the notary of Blainville-Crevon—was for the lawyer to apply a small-denomination postage stamp to the document and sign his name across it. This resourceful method of preventing falsified reproduction was carried out by Duchamp on each original pochoir.