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[Thanks for your letter: in a hasty style…]

Letter dated 28 April 1947

Correspondence

Author

Author Marcel Duchamp
Letter to André Breton
People cited Enrico Donati, Frederick John Kiesler, Aimé Maeght, Dorothea Tanning, Max Ernst, Joan Miró

Description

Letter from Marcel Duchamp addressed to André Breton and dated 28 April 1947 about the exhibition planned for July at the Galerie Maeght.

Seven letters from Marcel Duchamp to André Breton, all related to the preparation of the exhibition Le Surréalisme en 1947 at the Galerie Maeght in Paris, which attest to the inexhaustible resources of this co-organiser and the amount of work he did in federating the entire network of surrealist friends on the other side of the Atlantic - from Miró to Max Ernst through Granell (whom he does not yet know) and many others. The 1947 exhibition at the Galerie Maeght was the result of a genuine team effort, both in the terms of organisation and creation: Duchamp discussed it with Kiesler before sending his suggestions to André Breton, giving all of his creativity to the way the rooms and altars might be organised without ever fixing an idea or imposing a determination. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Exceptional set of 7 handwritten letters signed by Marcel Duchamp and sent to André Breton, all related to the preparation of the exhibition Le Surréalisme en 1947 at the Galerie Maeght in Paris.

Letter, dated April 28, 1947.
- 2 pages in-4 in ink of a letter from Duchamp dated April 28, 1947 (envelope retained):
‘The same shipment will include the thousand breasts mounted on light cardboard, the velvet lint is settled on the rubber a little, please ask the gluer to pass a wet cloth over it so as to remove it, but don’t touch the nipple which I made myself. Another point: Please mention Donati's collaboration in the making of this cover, it will please him and he deserves it... This is between us: Kiesler is working hard on the superstition room but I fear he isn’t ready or thinks 14 June in N.Y. will be enough to open on the 15th in Paris. In other words I’d advise you to prepare an alternative room of superstition in case I can’t deliver.’ [sale catalogue, 2003]

*This entry was translated from the French by Michael Richardson

Place of origin

Place of destination

Exhibition place