Summary: Jennifer Quick, research assistant at NPG, discusses Marcel Duchamp's "Wanted" poster, on view in the exhibition "Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture." Originally created in 1923, Duchamp's Wanted: 2,000 Dollar Reward was the last work of art he completed before leaving New York that year to return to Paris. Duchamp based the work on a joke notice designed for tourists that he found in a New York restaurant. He pasted two head shots of himself on the poster and had a printer add another alias to those already listed: that of his recently created alter ego Rrose Selavy. Although Wanted challenges traditional conceptions of the creative process, the work, which Duchamp re-created at key moments in his career, also played a significant role in the construction of his artistic identity. This version, based on the now-lost original, is a replica intended for Duchamp's Boite-en-valise, a portable museum of his work. Wanted is on display at the National Portrait Gallery, in the exhibition "Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture" on the second floor. Jennifer Quick, research assistant at NPG, recently spoke about the work in a Face-to-Face portrait talk. Recorded at NPG, June 11, 2009. Image info: Wanted: 2,000 Dollar Reward / Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) / Lithograph, 1961 (replica of 1923 original) / Frances Beatty and Allen Adler Copyright 2009 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris / Succession Marcel Duchamp
