Matta-Duchamp

of exile in New York during the 2 nd world war, when
they met weekly, and were both involved in the surrealist
review VVV, published in New York (1942-44).
During this period Matta made a series of oil paintings
dubbed the “suite duchampienne” 2 , which had titles
such as The Bachelors, twenty years after, an homage to
Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors,
even (1915-23), on which in 1944 Matta published an
essay jointly with Duchamp’s American patron and collector
Katharine Dreier. This text, if in somewhat convoluted
prose, outlined a concept of the image, as Matta
felt Duchamp had reinvented it, and to which he was to
adhere. They had other interests in common. Neither of
them could resist puns, and they shared a deep respect
for the eccentric writer Raymond Roussel, whose play
Impressions of Africa had generated some of the ideas
for the Large Glass. Matta also shared Duchamp’s
interest in Alfred Jarry and ‘Pataphysics, “the science
of imaginary solutions”, defining himself in the catalogue
for his exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery
in 1942 as a pataphysician. Their respective relationships
to the surrealist movement were, however, rather
different. Duchamp was a courted but remote affiliate,
whose connections with Breton went back to Dada; he
refused to join the movement, being absolutely opposed
2. Romy Golan ibid
( 14 )