PIERRE DE MASSOT AND MARCEL DUCHAMP

Property from the Collection of Carlos Alberto Cruz

PIERRE DE MASSOT AND MARCEL DUCHAMP

TIRÉ A 4 ÉPINGLES. [ALÈS (GARD)]: P. A. B., 1959

Bifolia unbound as issued (4 ¾ x 4 ½ in.; 121 x 114 mm, uncut). Etching by Duchamp. Publisher's printed wrappers; some soiling, nick at head of spine.

"Pulled at Four Pins"

Copy 28 of 30 numbered copies (of a whole edition of 36), initialed by the publisher and with the etching signed by Duchamp.

Presentation copy, inscribed by Massot to Pegeen Vail Guggenheim, American painter and daughter of Peggy Guggenheim, "Pour Pegeen, qui, sans le savoir peut-etre, par sa peinture, a réinventé l'Amour. son vieil ami, Pierre, 27 September 1959."

Duchamp's diminutive etching illustrates the French idiomatic expression tiré a 4 épingles ("pulled at four pins"), meaning well-groomed. Massot, an old friend of Duchamp's, derived the title of this little volume from Duchamp's 1915 Readymade Pulled at Four Pins.

REFERENCE:

Lebel 228; Schwarz, Complete Works 575

PROVENANCE:

Pegeen Vail Guggenheim (presentation inscription).