Department:

Modern and Contemporary Art

English translation:

Rotary Glass Plates (Precision Optics) formerly titled as, Revolving Glass Machine

Foreign title:

Appareil Rotatif (Optique de Precision)

Foreign title:

Rotative Plaque Verre (Optique de Precision)

Classification:

Sculpture

Artist:

Artist Marcel Duchamp, French, 1887 – 1968

Label Text:

Rotary Glass Plates is a motorized device that demonstrates the continuity of visual impressions. Its five glass blades and (portions of the support) are painted so that when set in motion and viewed head-on, the machine forms concentric circles on a single plane. For about eight years before constructing this apparatus, Duchamp had been reading various treatises on mathematics and perceptions, and a number of his art works dealt with rotating machines. Rotary Glass Plates was the first actual machine that Duchamp made in his quest for a new world that would no longer separate art from idea.

Date Label:

1920

Culture:

French

Period:

20th century

Medium:

Painted glass and iron with electric motor

Description:

Five glass plates painted with segments of black and white circles, turning on a metal axis powered by an electric motor, supported by a frame of metal and wood 166.3 cm to top of largest blade, posed vertically; 117.8 cm to top surface of axial shaft; largest glass blade: 14.2 x 99.3 cm; wooden base at floor; 120.8 x 145.8 cm

Dimensions:

165.7 x 157.5 x 96.5 cm (65 1/4 x 62 x 38 in. )

Inscription(s):

Inscribed in paint on front of foremost support crossbar, below aapex: AV DEV; stenciled on wood above the engine: AR

Notes:

S.A. 1; B.5; lived in America

Provenance:

Societe Anonyme Collection

Curatorial Remarks:

Registrar note for dims:
65.25 inches = 5 foot, 5 1/4 inches
62 inches = 5 foot, 2 inches
38 inches = 3 foot, 2 inches

Image:

1941’446~13

Video:

1941’446movie

Image:

1941’446~05

Image:

1941’446~06

Image:

1941’446~07

Transparency 5×7 color:

A; Color

Transparency 8×10 color:

CT; Color

Transparency 5×7 color:

Master; Color

Transparency 5×7 color:

Master1; Color

Transparency 5×7 color:

Master2; Color

Negative 5×7 BxW:

1941’446~10

Negative 8×10 BxW:

1941’446~11

Exhibition History:

New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, “Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism,” 7 Dec. 1936 – 17 Jan. 1937, no. 222; Springfield, MA, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Gallery, “Some New Forms of Beauty 1909-1936: A Selection of the Collection of the Societe Anonyme: Museum of Modern Art: 1920,” 9 Nov. – 17 Dec. 1939, no. 15, traveled to Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum, 4 Jan. – 4 Feb. 1940; New Haven, CT, Yale University Art Gallery, “Modern Art from the Collection of the Societe Anonyme: Museum of Modern Art: 1920,” 14 Jan. – 22 Feb. 1942; New Haven, CT, Yale University Art Gallery, “Duchamp, Duchamp-Villon, Villon,” 1 Mar. – 1 Apr. 1945, no. 32; New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, “An Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture by the Directors of the Societe Anonyme Since Its Foundation: 1920 – 1948, 6 Mar. – 11 Apr. 1948, no. 34; New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, “Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage,” 27 Mar. – 9 June, 1968, no. 86, did not travel; New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, “The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age,” 25 Nov. 1968 – 9 Feb. 1969; Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Marcel Duchamp,” 22 Sept. – 11 Nov. 1973, no. 135, traveled to New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, 3 Dec. 1973 – 10 Feb. 1974, then to Chicago, IL, Art Institute of Chicago, 9 Mar. – 21 Apr. 1974; New Haven, CT, Yale University Art Gallery, “Art For a New Era: The Collection of the Societe Anonyme, 1920 – 1950,” 25 Apr. – 26 Aug. 1984.

Published References:

S.A. 1984 Cat. no. 234

Alternate Numbers:

1941.446

Credit Line:

Gift of the Collection Société Anonyme