THROUGH THE BIG END OF THE OPERA GLASS, Julien Levy, New York, 1943
Artists: Joseph Cornell, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Tanguy
Opening: December 7, 1943
Duration: December 7–December 28, 1943
Dimensions: 11.5 x 14.7 cm (folded out 23 x 29.4 cm)
Further Information: Joseph Cornell, Marcel Duchamp, and Yves Tanguy were each asked to create an image for the invitation card for The Big End Of The Opera Glass. Duchamp, famous for his interest in chess, submitted the chess problem visible in the image. Under the image, the instruction “White to Play and Win” is printed backwards. The problem Duchamp created, however, has no solution. Below the chessboard is the sentence “Look through from the other side against light,” while on the reverse side of the paper is a drawing of Cupid pointing its arrow. While this indicates that the solution may be visible through the overlay, at the end of Cupid’s arrow, there is nonetheless no solution to the problem posed by Duchamp.
ALW
Images: Images of the invitation and all other archival documents shown on this page are part of the online collection of Archiv der Avantgarden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
