Pocket Chess Set

c. 1935 – 1944

Collaboration with the Surrealists and the magazine “VVV”

He collaborated with the Surrealists but, despite André Breton’s coaxing, did not join the movement; until 1944, together with Max Ernst, Eugenio Granell and Breton, he edited the Surrealist periodical VVV, and he also served as an advisory editor of the magazine View.

1942

The “mile of string” at First Papers of Surrealism

Surrealists asked him to design the show in New York: he strung a three-dimensional web of twine through the rooms so that the works were almost impossible to see. By a secret arrangement with an associate’s son, a dozen children in athletic clothes turned up at the opening, kicking and passing balls and skipping rope, and told puzzled guests: “Mr. Duchamp told us we could play here”.

1942

Greenwich Village becomes his home

From 1925 he often travelled between France and the United States, and in 1942 he made New York’s Greenwich Village his home; though no longer considered an active artist, he went on advising artists, dealers and collectors.

1943

Appears in Maya Deren’s “The Witch’s Cradle”

In Maya Deren’s unfinished film, shot in Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery, his hands play the string game Cat’s Cradle while his body is enmeshed in stop-motion-animated twine.

March 1945

The magazine “View” devotes an issue to him

The March issue of View, where Duchamp was an advisory editor, was devoted to him and introduced him to a broader American audience.

1946–1951

The affair with Maria Martins

From 1946 to 1951 he was involved with the Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins, who also served as his model and collaborator.