The Essential Duchamp

1 April–1 August 2019

Exhibition Overview

The most comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the art and life of Marcel Duchamp ever to be seen in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Essential Duchamp includes approximately 150 works and related documentary materials spanning the artist’s six-decade career. Drawn from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s definitive collection of works by Duchamp, as well as its incomparable library and archival holdings relating to the artist, The Essential Duchamp offers audiences a unique account of the fascinating life and influential work of one of the 20th century’s most original artistic figures.

This major exhibition will include important early works that have not before been seen in the Asia-Pacific region including Portrait of Dr. Dumouchel 1910, Sonata 1911, and Chocolate Grinder (No. 2) 1914, along with many other key works, among them Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) 1912 which made Duchamp’s name when it was exhibited at the epochal Armory Show in New York in 1913.

The exhibition will be presented at the Tokyo National Museum, Japan to mark the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death, before travelling to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea, and the Art Gallery of NSW.

The Essential Duchamp is organised by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The international tour has been made possible by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

(Photo: Courtesy of Art Gallery of New South Whlaes, Artworks © Marcel Duchamp/ADAGP. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney)

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