Chocolate Grinder (No. 1)

Currently not on view

Chocolate Grinder (No. 1)

1913

Marcel Duchamp (American (born France), 1887–1968)

This work was inspired by a chocolate grinding machine that Marcel Duchamp saw in the window of a confectioner's shop in Rouen, France. The artist rendered the machine in a dry and impersonal painting style, akin to the precise mechanical drawing found in architectural plans. Duchamp was fascinated with the rotating drums of the chocolate grinder, which had a sexual connotation for him, and the machine would reappear several times in his work, most notably in the lower section of The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) of 1915-23.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Chocolate Grinder (No. 1)

Date:

1913

Artist:

Marcel Duchamp (American (born France), 1887–1968)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

24 3/8 x 25 3/8 inches (61.9 x 64.5 cm) Framed: 25 1/2 × 26 5/8 × 1 5/8 inches (64.8 × 67.6 × 4.1 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950

Accession Number:

1950-134-69

Geography:

Made in France, Europe

Provenance

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Currently not on view