1991

Picasso Viewing Étant donnés (Half a Nothing 1.20.91)

American, 1927 - 1995

This print is part of a series of prints and drawings that date to the time of Ray Johnson's 1991 retrospective entitled More Works by Ray Johnson, 1951-1991, held in Philadelphia at the Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art and Design. During the preparations for his retrospective, Johnson was inspired by the proximity of his oeuvre to Marcel Duchamp's works of art on view at the Museum. He produced a number of pieces related to Duchamp's Étant donnés (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1969-41-1), including notes to its nude female mannequin, photocopied collages sent through the mail to then Director Anne d'Harnoncourt and others, and drawings in which the mannequin is in a constant state of transition and transformation.