In 1934 Marcel Duchamp – or more accurately his alter ego Rrose Sélavy – published in green felt covered boxes ninety-four loose notes relating to the development and function of his magnum opus The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors Even, known familiarly as ‘The Large Glass’. The curiosity and fascination created by The Large Glass inspired a number of translations of the random presentation of the notes pertaining to its concept and function. The first was a translation into English by Jacob Bronowski of a selection of four of the original notes, published in the September 1932 This Quarter, known as the ‘Surrealists Issue’. This was two years before the publication of the Green Box. Other translations by Jennings and Roditi, in the London Bulletin and View respectively, were based in part on a 1935 article by the leader of the surrealist movement Andre Breton, ‘The Lighthouse of the Bride’, which contained a copy of the longest note in the box The Bride Stripped Bare.
In 1957 George Heard Hamilton, an art history professor at Yale, published Marcel Duchamp from the Green Box in a limited edition of 400. This included a translation of twenty-five notes which, according to the author, featured some of the boxes’ peripheral jottings, especially those concerning ready-mades. While these translations had either speculated at some kind of order or totally ignored the possibility, British artist Richard Hamilton had managed, by 1956, to work through the notes to develop a diagram of the areas in the glass to which he believed the subject of the notes related. This he sent to Marcel Duchamp and, as is evident from a transcript of the reply, met with the latter’s approval. Not only was Duchamp pleased with how they had been deciphered, he also urged Hamilton to contact his friend George Heard Hamilton with a view to deciphering and translating the entire contents of his box. Text:
Paul Thirkell / Tate PapersRe-Editions & Translations:
George Heard Hamilton
Marcel Duchamp. From the green box / translated and with a preface by George Heard Hamilton (The Readymade Press : New Haven 1957). Twenty five notations from the 1934 edition of 94 documents relating to the conception of the Large Glass. Edition 400 copies.
Richard Hamilton
The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. A Typographic Version by Richard Hamilton of Marcel Duchamp's Green Box / translated by George Heard Hamilton (Wittenborn: New York 1960).
Richard Hamilton and Ecke Bonk
Marcel Duchamp. In the Infinitive / A Typotranslation by Richard Hamilton and Ecke Bonk of Marcel Duchamp's White Box (The Typosophic Society: Northend 1999).
Books:
Duchamp: Notes et/and NotationsNotes et/and Notations. Edition Richard Hamilton / Ecke Bonk. Typosophes sans frontières. 3 Bände in grauem Leinen-Schuber. Karlsruhe/Northend/Fontainebleau 2002. Format 16,1 x 24,2 x 4,4 cm. Green Book: The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. A typographic version by Richard Hamilton of Marcel Duchamp's Green Box. 3rd ed. London 1976. 114 S. mit 12 Abb. sowie zahlr. Zeichn., einige davon auf Pergamentpapier, gebunden. White Book: Marcel Duchamp. A l'infinitif. A typotranslation. 380 Euro. Buchhandlung Walter König in Köln.
Duchamp a l'infinitifMarcel Duchamp a l'infinitif. Ed. by Richard Hamilton & Ecke Bonk. Essay by Sarat Maharaj. Köln 1999. 136 mit 117 farb. Abb., Chronologie, in english. 25 Euro. Buchhandlung Walter König in Köln.
Labels: Ecke Bonk, Marcel Duchamp's Green Box, Re-Editions, Richard Hamilton, Translations
