Set of 12 offset color lithographs printed on 6 double-sided cardboard discs and black circular holder, lacking black circular viewer and collapsible cardboard stand with instructions, 1935-53. Each printed disc 200 mm; 7 3/4 inches (diameter); holder 245 mm; 9 3/4 inches (diameter). Schwarz's Edition A. Edition of 1000 (of which approximately 600 sets were accidentally destroyed).
Duchamp's Rotoreliefs were meant to spin on a turntable to achieve the ideal optical illusion. When viewed with one eye, each of the 12 rotating disks creates for the viewer a startling vision of depth and pulsating movement. Rotoreliefs can be considered as an extension of the same experimentation that had motivated the creation of Duchamp's Rotary Demisphere, an elaborate motorized construction made in 1925. Duchamp first published Rotoreliefs, in an edition of 500, in 1935, and initially displayed and offered them for sale at the Concours Lépine inventor's fair in Paris. He sold only several sets. Duchamp and Man Ray had filmed early versions of the spinning discs for the short film Anémic Cinéma, 1926. One of the discs entitled Corolles was printed in red and black and adorned the cover of the French surrealist magazine Minotaure, no. 6, 1935. Schwarz 441.
