Inscribed in French on a strip of metal glued across the approximate center of this work are the words of its title, suggesting that viewers look through the lens Duchamp mounted between two panes of glass haloed in concentric circles. Peering through the convex lens "for almost an hour" is supposed to have a hallucinatory effect, as the view is dwarfed, flipped, and otherwise distorted. Duchamp delighted in the fact that the glass shattered while being transported.
Gallery label from 2010.
MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos.
If you notice an error, please contact us at digital@moma.org.
This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.
The artist
Katherine S. Dreier (d. 1952), West Redding, Connecticut. [Purchased from Duchamp], by 1936
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Katherine S. Dreier Bequest, 1953
Provenance research is a work in progress, and is frequently updated with new information. If you have any questions or information to provide about the listed works, please email provenance@moma.org or write to:
Provenance Research Project
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
All requests to license audio or video footage produced by MoMA should be addressed to Scala Archives at firenze@scalarchives.com. Motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in MoMA's Film Collection cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. For access to motion picture film stills please contact the Film Study Center. More information is also available about the film collection and the Circulating Film and Video Library.
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication or moma.org, please email text_permissions@moma.org. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to archives@moma.org.
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to digital@moma.org.
