A Portable Retrospective in Photographs: Autograph-Indexed Notebook of Duchamp's Work (c. 1950)

France: np, 1950. Very Good. A PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF DUCHAMP’S WORK, WITH CAPTIONS IN HIS HAND. WITH ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OF MAX ERNST, MAN RAY, AND PEGGY GUGGENHEIM.

WITH 57 VINTAGE IMAGES: 20 OF DUCHAMP AND 37 OF MAX ERNST. A unique, intimate photo-archive in which Michel Sima’s photographs and Duchamp’s autograph annotations converge to produce a firsthand, mid-century self-index of Duchamp’s major works, presented through staged photographic documentation and then named, dated, and linked by Duchamp himself. The notebook serves as a private catalogue raisonné-in-miniature, and a record of the artist’s own curatorial voice in the postwar period. The result is a rare instance in which Duchamp’s conceptual practice extends into documentary form: the artist curates himself, in photographs, as a portable retrospective.

Marcel Duchamp: the artist as curator of his own canon:

The photographs repeatedly show Duchamp holding, presenting, and demonstrating key works and motifs—often in serial contact-strip form, where minute shifts of pose and framing suggest working documentation rather than formal “finished” portraits. The manuscript captions enumerate and date major works across his career—Boîte-en-valise (1941), Tu m’ (1918), Peigne (1917), Rotorelief (1934), Mariée (1912), Nu descendant un escalier (1912), Porte-bouteilles (Ready-made, 1914), and, centrally, the Grand Verre / La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même (1915–1923)—with the notebook thereby presenting, in miniature, a map of Duchamp’s foundational inventions in twentieth-century art.

Particular highlights include the “Grand Verre” page, where Duchamp writes out the canonical title La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même (1915–1923)” with arrowed identifications; the Boîte-en-valise (1941) showing Duchamp presenting to the viewer the open valise; and iconic images of Duchamp playing chess with Man Ray.

Duchamp famously said: “The title of a painting is another color on the artist’s palette," so to see him writing the titles alongside his images is a powerful reminder of his creative process.

Max Ernst: Documenting his work:

Although not captioned, the Max Ernst images, like the Duchamp photos, provide studio context and object-specific documentation, showing him posed with identifiable works and sculptural forms, including repeated views of a bird-headed / mask-like object on a stand, and wider atelier views with multiple works staged in the space. The cumulative effect is that of a private studio visit rendered in serial, contact-strip form. One of the more interesting photos shows Ernst posing in front of one of his paintings with his third wife Peggy Guggenheim.

Michel Sima: The photographer and original owner of the notebook:

Michel Sima (Michal Smajewski, 1912–1987) was a Polish-born French sculptor, ceramicist, and photographer who became one of the most trusted studio portraitists of the postwar Paris art world. Arriving in Paris in 1929 to study sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, he moved within the Montparnasse/École de Paris circles as both maker and confidant; after the war he turned increasingly to photography, producing intimate, access-dependent portraits—especially of Picasso and many leading modernists—often framed in studios and among works-in-progress. His relationship to Duchamp and Max Ernst is documented through many famous credited photographs. The notebook comes from his estate.

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Le Tignet (Alpes-Maritimes), c. 1950., as written in Duchamp’s hand on the front free endpaper: “Duchamp / Le Tignet parnasse / Alpes-Maritimes”. Octavo notebook (approx. 22 × 17 cm), with original paper boards and black-taped spine; custom box. Front hinge weak. Comprising 57 total images (contact prints and/or strips cut from contact sheets), mounted to the pages with period adhesive strips; with handwritten captions, arrows, and dates in ink by Marcel Duchamp on 13 pages. Print sizes vary (most approx. 6 × 6 cm). Provenance: Michel Sima family collection.