Antique French Bottle Rack
Marcel Duchamp’s Bottle Rack is his seminal “readymade”—an ordinary, mass-produced object transformed into art through the artist's selection and context.
In 1914, Duchamp famously purchased a bottle rack, originally an industrial tool for drying bottles, from a Paris department store and designated it as “art”. This watershed moment forever challenged traditional ideas of craftsmanship and aesthetics.
The significance of Duchamp’s Bottle Rack lies in the concept it represents, not the object itself. Duchamp sought to provoke questions about the nature of art and who determines its value.
As a key work in Dada and conceptual art, Bottle Rack dismantled the notion that art must be handmade or visually pleasing.
Its influence extended to movements such as pop art, surrealism, conceptual art and Minimalism.
This prime example from France is made of galvanised steel, dating from the early 1900s. This would be the same type purchased and used by Duchamp in his day. It was colloquially known as "Hérisson" (hedgehog) due to its spiked shape.
Marcel Duchamp’s Bottle Rack is his seminal “readymade”—an ordinary, mass-produced object transformed into art through the artist's selection and context.
In 1914, Duchamp famously purchased a bottle rack, originally an industrial tool for drying bottles, from a Paris department store and designated it as “art”. This watershed moment forever challenged traditional ideas of craftsmanship and aesthetics.
The significance of Duchamp’s Bottle Rack lies in the concept it represents, not the object itself. Duchamp sought to provoke questions about the nature of art and who determines its value.
As a key work in Dada and conceptual art, Bottle Rack dismantled the notion that art must be handmade or visually pleasing.
Its influence extended to movements such as pop art, surrealism, conceptual art and Minimalism.
This prime example from France is made of galvanised steel, dating from the early 1900s. This would be the same type purchased and used by Duchamp in his day. It was colloquially known as "Hérisson" (hedgehog) due to its spiked shape.
Marcel Duchamp’s Bottle Rack is his seminal “readymade”—an ordinary, mass-produced object transformed into art through the artist's selection and context.
In 1914, Duchamp famously purchased a bottle rack, originally an industrial tool for drying bottles, from a Paris department store and designated it as “art”. This watershed moment forever challenged traditional ideas of craftsmanship and aesthetics.
The significance of Duchamp’s Bottle Rack lies in the concept it represents, not the object itself. Duchamp sought to provoke questions about the nature of art and who determines its value.
As a key work in Dada and conceptual art, Bottle Rack dismantled the notion that art must be handmade or visually pleasing.
Its influence extended to movements such as pop art, surrealism, conceptual art and Minimalism.
This prime example from France is made of galvanised steel, dating from the early 1900s. This would be the same type purchased and used by Duchamp in his day. It was colloquially known as "Hérisson" (hedgehog) due to its spiked shape.
Antiqute Bottle Rack (after Marcel Duchamp)
France
Circa 1900s
H50cm x D41cm
Galvanised Steel