Page 68 - Studio International - January February 1975

scissors. They are depicted with a pulled, dragged or drawn out'. A COUPS words'. It appeared on the front cover of
bayonette rising toward them from a TROP TIRES can mean in blows too The Little Review, N.Y. XL No. 1,
chocolate grinder. These at least are drawn out. spring 1925. In 1925, Duchamp had the
transparent allusions, for la baïonette is Tirer un coup is common in the idiom, sentence, Rrose Sélavy et moi esquivons
slang for penis, and Duchamp himself tirer un coup de fusil 'to fire a shot from a les ecchymoses des esquimaux aux mots
wrote of the chocolate grinder in his rifle', which Schwarz relates to the exquis, engraved around the edge of his
Notes and Projects for the Large Glass: breaking of the hymen.' Also, a pun on sculpture entitled Rotative demi-sphere.
`Principe adage de spontaneité (qui A COUPS TROP TIRES is a couteau The sentence follows correct syntax
explique le mvt. giratoire de la broyeause de tire 'with knife drawn'. The knife would and alliteration is tightly built upon all
sans autre secours) Le célibatoire broie son symbolize the penis, and the threatening three syllables of each of the four word
chocolat lui même —'trans.: Principle weapons, like the scissors and the groups, creating again a spiral of sound.
adage of spontaneity (which explains the bayonette, would equate death with Yet the sentence, like the postcards of
gyratory mvt. of the grinder without incest. 1916, makes no apparent sense.
other help) The bachelor grinds his Another pun is à cous trop tirés, 'with ESQUIVONS let us cleverly escape'
chocolate himself —. necks too stretched'. In the Large Glass, implies disdain.
Need I explain that this is generally the Bride is referred to as a Pendu LES ECCHYMOSES are very bad,
interpreted as reflexive male sexuality. femelle. This phrase is relevant but ugly bruises, since lighter ones are
Corresponding to this, the scissors difficult to translate. Pendu is a gerund called les bules. They are disgusting and
represent female sexuality, but meaning hung, or a hanging thing. revolting to look at. Mention of it here
Duchamp's diagram denies a physical or a Femelle is female, but in a derogatory carries a certain sexual connotation which
sexual union. He portrays sexuality sense. The term is something like 'bitch' shadows physical sexuality as something
rather as onanism for two, each since it is usually applied to animals. The `perverse'.
partner trying to satisfy his her cravings phrase Pendufemelle however does not Logically, the Eskimoes are a people
and finding instead a ceaseless gyratory imply misogeny. Women in particular that to a Frenchman seem cold and
movement. are not held responsible, as sex objects for exotic. Here, they are the possessor of
The symbol of the scissors (and also of a society which has long been male- MOTS EXQUIS, where EXQUIS
the bayonette) implies frustration and dominated, for man's doom through `exquisite' suggests in French something
aggression, guilt and castration or death, sexual incest and family passion, which in that is sublimely and ravishingly
yet if these strong sexual feelings are turn becomes a basis for man's sexual sensual. The Eskimoes, while responsible
contained in this sentence, the forth- aggression. That indictment would have for the gross pain, are nonetheless
right structure and meaning remain called for the phrase Femelle pendue, with extremely attractive. Perhaps they are
banal and matter-of-fact. Femelle as the subject and pendue as the beautiful yet cold and unattainable sex
adjective. Pendu femelle is a hanging thing objects: or, still on an aesthetic or
ON DEMANDE DES MOUSTIQUES that happens in this case to be female. It intellectual level, AUX MOTS EXQUIS
DOMESTIQUES (DEMI-STOCK) could be either sex since both sexes are could refer to a seductive
POUR LA CURE D'AZOTE SUR LA frustrated — Duchamp seems indifferent. sophistication. But since both the
COTE D'AZUR. In this case, Pendu 'hanging' and the sublime 'aesthetic' beauty (EXQUIS) and
This is worded like a want-ad. A pun, a cous trop tires 'with necks too the disgusting physicality
literal translation is : (Wanted) They are stretched', indicate a state of sexual (ECCHYMOSES) simultaneously
asking for some domesticated mosquitoes frustration. In the Large Glass, intercourse qualify the same noun, they are
(half-stock) for the nitrogen cure on the was never achieved. The Bride was left inseparable, so that concepts of
French Riviera. hanging. The passion of the family could aesthetic and physical taken from this
The words, Moustiques domestiques therefore be the normal undercurrents context must be defined accordingly.
demi-stock' first appeared written over which are left unrealized in a 'normal' MOTS EXQUIS 'exquisite words' is
and over again on the background of family. the substance of the film, and the words
bonds for a small gambling venture in Asphyxiation is also related to heavy used are certainly refined and based in the
Monte Carlo, a scheme invented by breathing and sexual satisfaction. In sensual. They are as words intellectual,
Duchamp and Man Ray, dated some primitive cultures, men have rites so the ESQUIMAUX AU MOTS
November I, 1924. of approaching asphyxiation to gain EXQUIS is perhaps artistic activity as in
DES MOUSTIQUES erection. They of course have to cut this this film. Modified by ECCY HMOSES,
DOMESTIQUES (DEMI-STOCK) is a little short in order to avoid suicide. art becomes a form of battering cerebral
alliteration based again on 3 3, or three A cous trop tires 'with necks too eroticism born from insatiable desires
times the three syllables. LA CURE stretched' equates incest with which are attractive yet enslaving,
D'AZOTE and LA COTE D'AZUR are asphyxiation and with Duchamp's plan, painful and 'perverse'.
two sets of three syllables which agree in derived from the expression couper Still the indication ESQUIVONS 'let
consonance. le gaz 'to cut off the gas' to : 'Establish a us cleverly and disdainfully escape' is to
society in which the individual has to outsmart this 'perverse' attraction, be it
INCESTE OU PASSION DE pay for the air he breathes (air meters; physical or aesthetic. With characteristic
FAMILLE, A COUPS TROP TIRES. imprisonment and rarefied air), in case of irony, Duchamp presented us both the
INCESTE OU PASSION DE non-payment simple asphyxiation, if pun and the film, and at the same time
FAMILLE is simply translated as : necessary (cut off the air).' he described his own art activity as nil —
Incest or family passion. Passions is the All of these serious overtones however 'I am a breather' — and claimed he
first person plural, imperfect tense, of the are already comic, since tirer un coup is abandoned his projects (painting for
verb passer, to pass. This can be in the simple slang for having intercourse. example, and the Large Glass) because
sense of 'The Passing of the Virgin to the A COUPS TROP TIRES is an odd twist he became bored. He was in these
Bride' (the title of one of Duchamp's to that phrase ( TROP 'too much') descriptions of himself consistently
paintings, `.. . a title which signifies not a implying intercourse too much had, or lying of course, and in so doing
representation of the loss of virginity but too much intercourse. recreating himself, hermetically sealed
rather a succession from one form to in his direct statements, as his own
another. . . . The dialectical notion of ESQUIVONS LES ECCHYMOSES idealization, enacting as much as possible
"passage", associated with that of DES ESQUIMAUX AUX MOTS his own wishful thinking.
transmutation, has a profound EXQUIS. Incidentally, objet dard (cf. p. 2) is a
significance for Duchamp,' or it can be `Let us flee from (cleverly and with dildo, which makes the piece a pun of
of the passing, or death, of the family. some disdain) the bruises of the many dimensions and a very funny
A COUPS TROP TIRES is more Eskimoes who have exquisite words.' statement on or object for the function of
difficult to translate since both COUPS This sentence was first written in 1924 art.
(n.) and TIRES (past part.) are as Rrose Sélavy et moi estimons les (. .. That it now rests untouchable in a
ambiguous words having many ecchymoses des esquimaux aux mots museum collection makes it unnecessary
meanings; COUPS 'blows, quick exquis. arose Sélavy and I estime the for a future artist to deface it with a
actions; conquests', TIRES 'stretched, bruises of the Eskimoes of exquisite moustache . . . R.I.P !)

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