Dome

"In 1942 he moved into a studio on West 14th Street, and, with the exception of one or two close friends, he told no-one about a major project on which he worked intermittently for the next 22 years: Given: 1° The Waterfall; 2° The Illuminating Gas (1946–66; Philadelphia, PA, Mus. A.; see fig. 4), often referred to by its original title in French, Etant donnés: 1° La Chute d’eau, 2° Le Gaz d’éclairage. Essentially, as the complete title implies, this work represents a literal manifestation of those elements that were meant to be invisible or rendered only abstractly in the Large Glass. It is a large, three-dimensional tableau, where, through two tiny peepholes in an old Spanish door, we are accorded the view of an unclothed, anonymous woman lying on her back with her legs spread open; in one hand she holds a glowing gas lantern, while in the background a waterfall flows endlessly in silence. Duchamp began construction of Etant donnés in 1946, although he seems to have had the idea for the work some years earlier. Just as for the Large Glass, the finished work was preceded by a number of preparatory studies, and several independent works were derived from it. Three small erotic objects are particularly closely related to its production: Female Fig Leaf (1950; Paris, priv. col., see Moure, pl. 119), the phallic Objet-Dard (galvanized plaster, 1951; Paris, priv. col., see Moure, pl. 120) and Wedge of Chastity (plaster version, 1954; New York, MOMA). In accordance with Duchamp’s wishes, Etant donnés was placed on public display immediately after his death, next to his other works in the Arensberg Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art." -- From The Grove Dictionary of Art Online (Oxford University Press, Accessed 12 July 2004) <http://www.groveart.com/shared/views/article.html?section=art.023894.1.5#art.023894.1.5>full view