Remaking the Readymade

Duchamp, Man Ray, and the Conundrum of the Replica

Adina Kamien-Kazhdan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780429843563
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: History of Modern Art

Replication and originality are central concepts in the artistic oeuvres of Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. Remaking the Readymade reveals the underlying and previously unexplored processes and rationales for the collaboration between Duchamp, Man Ray, and Arturo Schwarz on the replication of readymades and objects.

The 1964 editioned replicas of the readymades sent shock waves through the art world. Even though the replicas undermined ideas of authorship and problematized the notion of identity and the artist, they paradoxically shared in the aura of the originals, becoming stand-ins for the readymades. Scholar-poet-dealer Arturo Schwarz played a crucial role, opening the door to joint or alternate authorship—an outstanding relationship between artist and dealer. By unearthing previously unpublished correspondence and documentary materials and combining this material with newly conducted exclusive interviews with key participants, Remaking the Readymade details heretofore unrevealed aspects of the technical processes involved in the (re)creation of iconic, long-lost Dada objects.

Launched on the heels of the centenary of Duchamp's Fountain, this new analysis intensifies and complicates our understanding of Duchamp and Man Ray' initial conceptions, and raises questions about replication and authorship that will stimulate significant debate about the legacy of the artists, the continuing significance of their works, and the meaning of terms such as creativity, originality, and value in the formation of art.

Part I

Replication in the 20th century and the Galleria Schwarz

1 Replication in the 20th century

Motivations, terms, and issues

• Replication: terms and definitions
• Replication: why and when?
  • Dissemination of artwork: a review of the reproduction of three-dimensional works of art
  • Reconstruction of lost or disintegrating works
• Multiples of the 1950s and 1960s: new initiatives of artists and dealers
• The replica’s aura: legal and theoretical questions

The practice of replication has existed throughout the history of art and has increasingly become a subject of study and debate amongst artists, curators, and scholars. A brief survey of the replication of artifacts from the end of the 19th century and up to the early 1970s demonstrates the different circumstances and contexts in which artists or other parties replicate artworks, the primary motivations for reproduction being the dissemination of existing artworks and the reconstruction of lost or disintegrating pieces.

A study of multiples in the 1950s and 1960s, which highlights examples of replication initiated by dealers and museums, provides an instructive context for Duchamp and Man Ray’s collaborations with Arturo Schwarz. These precedents raise aesthetic, ethical, and legal issues, which are then addressed with greater specificity in the cases of Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray in Chapters 3–7.

Replication: terms and definitions

“Inherent Vice” – Tate investigates replication

In 2006–7, Tate conducted a multi-disciplinary investigation of replication, which was led by Matthew Gale, Head of Displays, and supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The project was designed

to air the multi-disciplinary debate concerning decay and replication in relation to sculpture of the last hundred years, and to seek a deeper understanding of the problems that arise for the artists, their heirs and the collections that are custodians of their work.¹

In October 2007, Tate held the panel “Inherent Vice: The Replica and its Implications in Modern Sculpture Workshop”, which encompassed a wide range of subjects, such as the aura of originality and artists’ intention, and the ethical and legal issues raised by the restoration and replication of the works of living or dead artists. The Autumn 2007 issue of Tate Papers, edited with the assistance of technical art historian Bryony Bery, published the workshop papers online. A critical impetus for the project and focus of the colloquium was the problem of the disintegration of materials in Naum Gabo’s constructions (discussed in the next section). Tate’s replication project charted the parameters and differing positions in the art world. It raised sensitivity to the question of replication and developed an extensive terminology, which helped shape this discussion and future studies of the topic.

In the scheme of replication, it is appropriate to begin with the “original” – a new creation “made, ordered, certified, or otherwise sanctioned by an artist, at a given time (and place).”²

It is worth noting that the term “original readymade” is in essence an oxymoron, since the unassisted readymade – urinal, snow shovel, or bottle rack – was chosen from an assembly line of industrial, mass-produced items, among which there is no “original” (setting aside the designer’s prototype). In his notes (The Green Box), Duchamp remarked on “the serial characteristic of the readymade.”³

The word “replica” comes from the verb to repeat, replicare in Italian and from the Latin, to fold back (“reply”). A “replica” implies the recreation of an earlier original object with detailed precision, but not always on the same scale. Some claim that a replica must be fabricated by the original artist;⁴ any other sort of copy of an original object would instead be called a “reproduction.” Other art historians define “replica” as an item “made by someone other than the artist (though under license) as a public substitute for the original using the same specifications.”⁵ Yet other scholars understand the term more broadly to mean a recreation made by the original artist, a pupil, assistant, or anyone authorized by the artist to replicate the work. In some cases the original never existed, and the replica is constructed from original drawings or according to an original design.

“Unique replicas” or “artist’s replicas” are recreations of original works made by the artist or by other authorized individuals, using the same specifications. A replica made by the artist constitutes a new version of the original and should be re-dated.⁶ Replicas produced in number constitute an “edition,” or “editioned replicas,” such as Schwarz’s replicas of Duchamp’s readymades and Man Ray’s objects – which constitute the topic of this study.

The term “copy” applies to a duplicate of an original artwork made by someone other than the artist that intends to recreate the appearance of the original.⁷ An “exhibition copy” is a work produced after the artist’s lifetime (sometimes sanctioned by the artist’s heirs or estate) for exhibition purposes, as a public substitute for the original, using the same specifications.⁸ A replica constructed by a conservator is a “replica-document” for museum and historic purposes (like a three-dimensional photograph).⁹

The term “facsimile” denotes an exact copy of the original and is used particularly in the case of works on paper, books, or manuscripts.¹⁰ Two examples of facsimile editions produced by Duchamp are The Box of 1914 and The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors Even (The Green Box, 1934), facsimile notes for the Large Glass.

A “reconstruction” is a precise reassembling of an original work by the artist or someone sanctioned by the artist, maintaining the size, appearance, and authentic features, such as damage or lack of completion.¹¹ Older documentation of the original is combined with newer information deduced by research to create a complete version of the work, “using original and new parts.”¹² A “remake” involves the use of new materials. Richard Hamilton’s reconstruction/remake of Duchamp’s Large Glass in 1965–66 (Figure C.P. 6) for the Tate Gallery’s exhibition, “The Almost Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp,” shown in London in 1966, is an example of this category; it is discussed in Chapter 3.

A “limited edition” is defined as an issue of something collectible that is advertised as limited to a relatively small number of copies. The term is applied to editions of both two- and three-dimensional works. The limitation of the number produced indicates controlled production of a replicated image or model from the matrix of an original work of art and adds value to the works themselves, since the purchaser thereby has an implicit guarantee of exclusivity. Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise (1935–41, Figure C.P. 7), or “portable museum,” – which contained a compilation of his most important works in two- and three-dimensional reproductions – was produced serially in six limited editions (the first was a deluxe edition of 20 including one original work), altogether numbering around 300.¹³ This project is discussed in Chapter 3.

A “reproduction” implies a close imitation of an existing work resembling the original but not necessarily in its materials or techniques. The reproduction of artworks refers generally to the mechanical or semi-mechanical reproduction in two dimensions of paintings, sculpture, drawings, and the decorative arts. The validity of reproductions depends on their acceptance as reasonable substitutes for unavailable “original” works of art. They are the key to the mass dissemination of art imagery, as they have been for five centuries. In contrast to the handmade copy or duplicate, reproductions are created in multiple copies by means of some partly or wholly mechanized process; each one is theoretically identical. The closer they resemble their prototype in dimension, medium, composition, color, and finish, the more they approach the ideal of a facsimile. However, the vast majority of reproductions are executed in a medium different from their originals and on a smaller scale; such is the case with most engravings or photographs reproducing paintings. Historically, black-and-white reproductions have far outnumbered those in color. In the case of sculpture and decorative art, a further distancing occurs when three-dimensional forms are converted into two-dimensional images. In their many guises – prints and photographs, book and periodical illustrations, slides and postcards, microforms, electronic and computer-based images – reproductions constitute the visual foundation for art scholarship, criticism, and education.

Since the 1960s, museums around the world have raised funds via the reproduction of jewelry, glass, ceramics, silver, and other replicated objects sold in their shops or through catalogues. Currently, the Philadelphia Museum of Art sells miniature made-in-China replicas of Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel, which an online site promotes with these words: “this tiny work of art encourages interaction, and the spinning wheel will entertain you and get the wheels in your head turning as well.”¹⁴

Replication: why and when?

An artist’s decision to replicate his/her own work or to enter into a relationship with someone else in order to reproduce his/her work can be motivated by a wide array of conditions and concerns. In the main, the two primary motivations for replication are the dissemination of existing artwork to a larger public and the reconstruction of lost or disappearing works, which are considered of particular importance for the history of art.

In addition to the artist, initiators of replication could be the artist’s estate, an advisory board, gallerists, scholars, conservators, or designers. As outlined by curator Penelope Curtis in Tate’s 2007 replication papers, a work can be remade when it is finished, or it can be completed in the process of reconstruction. This process can occur during an artist’s lifetime or posthumously, with or without authorization. The motivating factors for replication can be the imminent collapse of a work (unplanned or planned by the artist), a changed climate of reception, staged redelivery, exhibition requirements, or a desire to understand techniques, aging, and its variable effects.¹⁵

Curtis defines two ways of making replicas: retrospective making, in which the work is remade from early documentation, and prospective making, where the replica is constructed for the first time according to new plans created especially for this purpose. Replication can begin from a deteriorated original or from documentation (usually photographic). The replica can be made in the original material, a version of the original material, or from a different material. It can be done in the original spirit, as part of an attempt to fulfill the artist’s perceived wishes.

It is worth noting that Schwarz’s editions concurrently reconstruct and disseminate Duchamp’s readymades and Man Ray’s objects, thereby uniting the two primary motiva...