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

Perspective from À l'Infinitif (La Boîte Blanche) (In the Infinitive [The White Box]) is a seminal illustrated book by Marcel Duchamp, conceptually developed during the crucial period spanning 1912–20. This complex work takes the tangible form of a folder containing sixteen collotype reproductions of the artist’s original manuscript notes. Far from being a traditional artistic output, this piece functions as a crucial analytical key, documenting the extensive linguistic, philosophical, and conceptual underpinnings for his monumental work, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass).

Duchamp's decision to reproduce these primary source documents using the precise collotype technique underscores his long-standing interest in mechanical reproduction, scientific rigor, and the dematerialization of the unique art object. Though the foundational notes detailing themes of vision, dimension, and chance operations were generated between 1912 and 1920, the final collection, organized and published in this unified format, was released in 1966. This publication provides invaluable insight into the American artist's systematic, almost engineering-like, approach to composition, demonstrating his move away from retinal art toward conceptual thought.

Often referred to simply as The White Box (La Boîte Blanche), this edition is considered essential for understanding Duchamp’s revolutionary methods and his lasting critique of traditional artistic production. The manuscript notes are not merely preparatory sketches but highly specialized texts exploring mechanics, perspective, optics, and geometry. The existence of high-quality prints and reproductions of these foundational documents ensures that the structural framework of Duchamp’s most challenging work remains accessible for scholarly study. This historically important illustrated book is a key holding in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).