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

The Continuum from À l'Infinitif (La Boîte Blanche) (In the Infinitive [The White Box]) by Marcel Duchamp is a foundational conceptual piece, cataloged formally as an illustrated book. Conceived during a critical transitional phase in the artist’s career, the work dates conceptually from the period 1912–20, though this specific realization was published much later in 1966. The medium comprises a folder containing sixteen high-quality collotype reproductions of Duchamp’s original manuscript notes.

The use of collotype reproductions allows for the wide distribution of these private, intellectual documents as prints, offering viewers direct insight into the preparatory thinking behind major works like The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass). Significantly, the piece includes a physical element: one of the reproductions is affixed with a pin, lending a tactile presence to the otherwise photographic replication of handwriting.

Duchamp utilized these assembled boxes of notes to codify his complex aesthetic theories, establishing a paradigm for conceptual art where the documentation of thought is as important as the resulting object. This conceptual work reveals the artist’s preoccupation with mechanical drawing, language, and the philosophical limits of artistic production.

Though his roots were French, Duchamp’s profound influence on contemporary art and his later life in the United States mean that this edition is often situated within the history of American post-War culture. This crucial collection, encapsulating the artist's intellectual framework, resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.