The Almost Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp

Artist: Marcel Duchamp 
Author: Richard Hamilton 
Publisher: Arts Council 
Date: 1966 
Condition: Apart from some very light handling marks to the green embossed card covers, this catalogue is in very clean, tidy and unbroken condition. From the second printing of 1400 with two additional plates.

If you are wondering why I have included an image of the back of this catalogue, it is because that hole you can see is to allow you to properly view the Rotoreliefs in motion! Considering that The Beatles released Revolver in the middle of the run of this show, you can see perhaps why Duchamp experienced such a revival of interest in the 1960s. 

His mixture of experiment, iconoclasm and knowing reference was ideally suited to the mood of the times and this large retrospective at the Tate Gallery (as was) gave everyone a wonderful opportunity to see the icons like Fountain or In Advance of the Broken Arm at first hand. Curated by Richard Hamilton, the exhibition even saw the painstaking reconstruction by Hamilton of Duchamp's the bride stripped bare by her batchelors, even (Large Glass) as well as the assembling of virtually all of Duchamp's works that were extant and fit to travel. 

Designed by Gordon House, the catalogue is both lavish yet spartan - it includes a lot of images and extensive notes on the exhibits but it is also largely in black and white. However, the richness of the ideas leavens the whole to make this a catalogue that feels both scholarly and popular. And I do really love the particular shade of green on the cover...