Marcel Duchamp

British pop artist Richard Hamilton was a close and trusted associate of Marcel Duchamp, a foundational figure for 20th Centuryconceptual art. The pair first met in 1958, when Hamilton proposed making a typographical version of Duchamp’s famous ‘Green box ‘ 1911–15 -- a collection of prints relating to the creation of Duchamp’s most famous artwork, ‘The bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even’ 1915–23.

For this lithograph Hamilton used a photograph he had taken in 1966 of Duchamp whilst at his London studio. The pair had previously collaborated on the glass multiple ‘The oculist witnesses’ 1966, and here we see Duchamp, with trademark cigar in hand, holding one of the screenprinted panes of glass.

Hamilton worked with Petersburg Press in London to make this print. To highlight the pane of glass, the area was overprinted with shiny clear acetate, and silver foil embossing was used to accentuate the four circles of the ‘oculist witnesses’. The remainder of the print was kept matt.