Duchamp leaves door open

The PMA celebrates the artist’s mysterious last piece

 

Duchamp, as captured here by John D. Schiff, created the piece in secrecy while he claimed to have given up art for chess. Photo: PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PHILADELHIA MUSEUM OF ART

 

In the summer of 1969, as the country’s attention was distracted by a raucous concert being pulled together in a muddy field in upstate New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art was undertaking a secret mission. “Étant donnés: 1 la chute d’eau, 2 le gaz d’éclairage (Given: 1 The Waterfall, 2 The Illuminating Gas),” the final work of artist Marcel Duchamp, was moved from his studio in New York to its new home in the museum.

“Étant donnés” has been hidden in plain sight ever since. Viewers must step up, one at a time, to small peepholes in a heavy wooden door to observe the work within, a mysterious tableau consisting of a naked female torso laying amidst a bundle of twigs and branches.

Jasper Johns has referred to “Étant donnés” as “the strangest work of art in any museum,” and it’s hard to argue the point. A bit — but thankfully not too much — of the mystery is being lifted with the museum’s new exhibit celebrating the installation’s 40th anniversary, which traces the creation of “Étant donnés” through photographs, sketches, studies, pieces of the plasters casts used for the nude figure, and a number of small “Erotic Objects” Duchamp created from elements of that cast.

“Since 1969, it’s become increasingly apparent that Duchamp is one of the most important artists of the 20th century, and we have 95 percent of his work here,” said Michael Taylor, the museum’s curator of modern art, during a tour of the exhibition. “In the past, we’ve done a bad job of letting people know that. Part of this exhibition is to announce that we really do see Duchamp as central.”

Marcel Duchamp:
‘Étant donnés’
Through Nov. 29
Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street and Ben Franklin Parkway
$16 museum admission
215-763-8100
www.philamuseum.org