Marcel Duchamp -- MoMA

[Wilfrid]

In member previews, open to the public Sunday.

This is a vast exhibit, heavily reliant on the Duchamp collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. One thing you still need to visit Philly to see is "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even" as it would presumably be unwise to chuck a huge glass scupture in the back of a truck and tour it around. But there is a full-size replica here by Richard Hamilton.

Otherwise, there's all the Duchamp you could possibly want. The early and relatively conventional paintings are better than I had remembered, and I had not known he was also a very funny cartoonist for the French press.

Then you get the Cubist-ish turn putting "Nude Descending a Staircase" into context. Then the readymades. Apparently, Duchamp retreated from his original position that the readymades were unique objects and permitted reproductions. Which means you get to see more urinals than you expected and rather too many reproductions of the Mona Lisa with a little graffiti mustache. The late stages of this show are repetitive.

Finally, the boxes, containing yet more (miniature) reproductions of his work. It would be fun to sit down with a box and unpack it, but I never thought they worked so well laid out in vitrines. If you want to look at these works carefully, allow a lot of time.