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Marcel Duchamp Rotary Demisphere (Precision Optics) Paris, 1925

  • MoMA, Floor 5, 505 The Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Galleries

Rotary Demisphere is one of several works in which Duchamp experimented with mechanisms that produce optical effects. When set in motion, the circles appear to pulsate. The copper ring around the dome’s circumference is engraved with French words whose sounds echo one another: Rrose Sélavy et moi esquivons les ecchymoses des esquimaux aux mots exquis, in English, “Rrose Sélavy and I dodge the Eskimos’ bruises with exquisite words” (Eskimo is a now outdated term referring to Indigenous peoples from the Arctic). Rrose Sélavy is a persona that Duchamp debuted in 1920 as part of his broader investigation of identity, authorship, and the boundaries of conventional art.

Gallery label from 2024
Medium
Painted papier-mâché demisphere fitted on velvet-covered disk, copper collar with plexiglass dome, motor, pulley, and metal stand
Dimensions
58 1/2 x 25 1/4 x 24" (148.6 x 64.2 x 60.9 cm)
Credit
Gift of Mrs. William Sisler and Edward James Fund
Object number
391.1970.a-c
Copyright
© 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Estate of Marcel Duchamp
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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Provenance Research Project

This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

Jacques Doucet (1853-1929), Paris/Neuilly [1]; by inheritance to Jeanne Roger-Doucet (Jacques Doucet's widow), Neuilly, 1929; given to Henri-Pierre Roché (1879-1959), Paris, 1930 [2]; by inheritance to Denise Roché (Henri-Pierre Roché's widow), Paris, 1959-c. 1961 [3]; Cordier & Ekstrom, New York; sold to Mary Sisler, New York, 1963 [4]; The Museum of Modern Art, New York (Gift of Mrs. William Sisler and Edward James Fund), 1970.

[1] Commissioned in 1924. See Schwarz 1997, no. 409.
[2] Scarlett et Philippe Reliquet, Henri-Pierre Roché: l'enchanteur collectionneur, Paris: Ramsay, 1999, pp. 201-02. Calvin Tomkins, Duchamp: A Biography, New York: Henry Holt, 1997, p. 295.
[3] Francis Naumann, Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Ghent and Amsterdam: Ludion Press, 1999, p. 214.
[4] Mary and William Sisler Papers, II.4. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. Included in the exhibition Not Seen and/or Less Seen of/by Marcel Duchamp/Rrose Sélavy, 1904-1964. Mary Sisler Collection, Cordier & Ekstrom, New York, January 14-February 13, 1965 (no. 75).

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