Saturday 24 May 1.00 PM – 6.00 PM

Duchamp's Large Glass

Marcel Duchamp began to make The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even (or the Large Glass) in New York in September 1915 and continued to work on it at intervals until he set out for a trip to Europe in February 1923, when he pronounced it definitively unfinished. In 1926 it was shattered and was eventually repaired in 1936 by Duchamp.

click to enlarge
Marcel Duchamp, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even [a.k.a. The Large Glass], 1915-23	Replica of The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even [a.k.a. The Large Glass] (1915-23) by Richard Hamilton, 1965

The Large Glass on display in the current exhibition at Tate Britain, "Days Like These," is a replica made by Richard Hamilton. In 1966 Hamilton had been asked to organise a major retrospective exhibition of Duchamp's work to be held at the Tate Gallery. As it was impossible to borrow the original because of its fragility, Hamilton decided that he would like to make a full-scale replica. He deliberately avoided making a copy of the present appearance of the Large Glass and reproduced the severe deterioration which had occurred. When Marcel Duchamp came to London for the opening of his exhibition, he agreed to sign it and inscribed it on the back "Richard Hamilton / pour copie conformé / Marcel Duchamp /1965."

This Study Day is a discussion forum considering the continuing importance of The Large Glass. Looking at issues of conservation and re-presentation of the work the day looks at current research around the Large Glass, and references the discussion between Richard Hamilton and Sarat Maharaj at Tate Britain on 7 May.

Speakers on the day include:

Thomas Girst, editor-in-chief, Tout-Fait; The Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journal (www.toutfait.com)

Jaqueline Monnier, began her career as an artist in 1959, while serving as an assistant to Marcel Duchamp, her stepfather, whom she helped to assemble the edition of his portable museum, the Boite-en-Valise.

Christopher Holden, senior conservator at Tate Britain, who led restoration of the Large Glass in 1984.

This event is a collaboration with the AHRB Research Centre for Studies in Surrealism and its Legacies. For more information, contact info, and direction, see: http://www.tate.org.uk/home/default.htm