Dictionaries and Atlases from À l'Infinitif (La Boîte Blanche) (In the Infinitive [The White Box])

Dictionaries and Atlases from À l'Infinitif (La Boîte Blanche) (In the Infinitive [The White Box]) by Marcel Duchamp is a conceptual centerpiece classified as an Illustrated Book, capturing the artist’s pivotal shift away from conventional painting in the early 20th century. Conceived and executed between 1912 and 1920, the material form of this object consists of a folder containing nine collotype reproductions of Duchamp’s original, highly complex manuscript notes. The precision afforded by the collotype process allowed for exact facsimile replication of his handwriting, diagrams, and calculations.

The notes comprising the À l'Infinitif (La Boîte Blanche) served as a crucial intellectual inventory related to Duchamp’s magnum opus, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass). Rather than illustrating finished work, these pages contain the conceptual scaffolding, exploring abstract ideas concerning physics, optics, and linguistic philosophy. Duchamp treated these boxes of notes not merely as preparatory sketches but as primary artworks equivalent in status to the larger installations they referenced. This influential American artist’s decision to finally publish the notes in 1966 fundamentally recast the historical understanding of his output from the 1912–20 period, suggesting that conceptual planning held precedent over material execution.

The specific sheets reproduced in Dictionaries and Atlases delve into systematic organization and linguistic structure, reflecting Duchamp’s enduring interest in subverting established nomenclature. His relentless focus on reproduction and the readymade permanently redefined artistic authorship and authenticity, paving the way for later conceptual movements. Although these works are reproductions, the high fidelity of the collotype prints makes them essential documents for understanding the development of Duchamp’s revolutionary artistic practice. This significant Illustrated Book is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.