Year: 2004
Medium: two unique negatives with gelatin silver contact prints sandwiched between glass
Dimensions: 45.5 x 30 cm (17 3/4 x 10 7/8 in.)
Edition: No. 24 of 35 + 10 A.P.
Acquired from Sotheby's, 2024
Sugimoto is a self-proclaimed Duchampian, having presented several works that reference Duchamp in the past. In this work, he takes “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass)” (1915–1923) as his subject. While the original “Large Glass” is held in the collection of the Philadelphia Art Museum, three replicas were reconstructed based on detailed notes from the “Green Box,” which is considered an artwork in its own right. One of these replicas was created in 1980 under the supervision of poet Shuzo Takiguchi and art historian Yoshiaki Tono. This version is currently held at the Komaba Museum at the University of Tokyo, and it is the version Sugimoto photographed using a large-format camera.
The original was partially shattered in transit sometime between the late 1920s and early 1930s. Duchamp is said to have welcomed the cracks in the piece. Although he partially restored the work in 1936, he left the restoration incomplete. Duchamp’s original was created to be incomplete, and this already incomplete original was later cracked. While Duchamp’s subsequent restoration appears to preserve the work’s originality while retaining traces of the damage, the version Sugimoto photographed is a replica that aims to restore the original and incomplete state of the work before the cracking.
Sugimoto’s photograph is thus a replica of a replica, a reproduction-copy; furthermore, it is an edition of 35. Sealed within the glass of Sugimoto’s work are the unique, original negative films, as well as contact prints, which can themselves also be considered reproductions.
