Rrose Selavy
[Paris]: GLM, 1939.
First edition, first printing of Duchamp's Dadaist aphorisms compiled under his female alter-ego and pseudonym, Rrose Selavy, an erotic riff on the classic French phrase "C'est la vie". Copy #381 of 500 numbered copies printed on Japon paper. [xvi] pp. Bound in publisher's printed wraps. Very Near Fine, trivial shelf wear. A beautiful copy of a fragile production; one of 500 copies. Intended as a tease on notions of identity and a challenge to gender binaries, Duchamp introduced his female alter ego Rrose Selavy to Parisian circles in 1921 through a series of photographs of himself in drag by Dadaist confrere Man Ray. Rrose represented the Dada movement's spirit of anti-art, wit and eroticism.
Price: $1,750