About First Papers of Surrealism

7/25/2019 About First Papers of Surrealism

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New Look: Marcel Duchamp, his twine, and the 1942 First

Papers of Surrealism Exhibition

by Vick, John2008

(http://www.toutfait.com/online_journal_details.php?postid=47245)

TheFirst Papers of Surrealismexhibition, which opened on October 14, 1942 at theWhitelaw Reid Mansion in midtown Manhattan, was both historic and peculiar. As heralded

byNewsweekmagazine,First Papers of Surrealismwas the biggest all-surrealist show everseen in theUnited States .(1)It announced the arrival of Surrealisms most celebrated artists,

many of whom had recently left Europe to avoid the war. The exhibitions title, in fact,alluded to the documents some artists had needed during their travels. In addition,First

Papers of Surrealismbenefited the Coordinating Council of French Relief Societies, awartime charity organization.(2)In such ways, the show was a very serious event, a product of

and a response to the tumultuous political environment of the early 1940s.

ButFirst Papers of Surrealismwas an equally whimsical affair, aplayful reordering of the gallery experience. At the shows opening, as

children ran around and played catch, several hundred feet of twine,hung by Marcel Duchamp, festooned the primary exhibition

space.(3)This installationhereafter referred to as his twine, theoriginal title given by theFirst Papers of Surrealismcatalogue (Fig.

1)acted as something of a veil.(4)It partially masked the roomsornate Gilded Age architecture, as well as some of the paintings on

display.(5)Though certainly unorthodox, this installation was notwithout precedent. At the 1938Exposition Internationale du

Surralismein Paris, a taxicab carrying snail-covered mannequins was

parked near the gallerys entrance, coal bags were suspended from theceilings, and the lights were dimmed so that visitors needed flashlightsto see.(6)

In theFirst Papers of Surrealismexhibition, Duchamps twine createdan intriguing environment through an economy of means. Yet for all the simplicity of the

installation's material, visitors were left uncertain of his twine's significance. As perhapsexpected, the installation elicited a variety of interpretations. For Elsa Schiaparelli, one of the

exhibitions coordinators, the twine was something of a guide, directing visitors to this andthat painting with a definite sense of contrast.(7)Edward Alden Jewell, theNew York

Timesart critic, focused on the installations functional effects, reporting that, [the twine]

forever gets between you and the assembled art, and in so doing creates the mostparadoxically clarifying barrier imaginable.(8)Some visitors, such as Harriet and SidneyJanis, on the other hand, opted for more metaphorical interpretations. They believed the

installation represented the complexity of understanding contemporary art, writing thatDuchamp's use of twine "symbolized literally the difficulties to be circumvented by the

uninitiate in order to see, to perceive and understand, the exhibitions."(9)

Duchamp himself never provided any explicit interpretation of his twine. Instead, he tended,like Jewell, to stress more his twines functional value than its symbolic meaning. He

click to enlarge

Figure 1

Title page, First Papers ofSurrealismcatalogue, 1942.Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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believed that the installation was more transparent than opaque, saying in a 1953 interview:

"It was nothing. You can always see through a window, through a curtain, thick or not thick,you can see always through if you want to, same thing there.(10)In recalling the frustration

some of the other participating artists felt for his twine, Duchamp was unsympathetic. Hedoubted why Some painters were actually disgusted with the idea of having their paintings

back of lines like that, thought nobody would see their paintings.(11)

That Duchamp was keen to downplay, even deny, the obstructing quality of his twineisespecially interesting, because that aspect has been the one most emphasized sinceFirst

Papers of Surrealismclosed on November 7, 1942. The installation has generally beendiscussed in terms of separation and dislocation; the twine deemed a dividing barrier, or what

T.J. Demos calls the maximal obstacle between paintings and viewing space.(12)Thisapproach to the exhibition sets into motion a series of conflictsinstallation versus

paintings, paintings versus viewers, viewers versus installationand has provided furtheropportunity to contextualize the exhibition within the political, social, and economic tensions

of World War II. As Duchamp's statements suggest, however, conflict was not the intendedproduct of his twine.

Looking at a photograph of theFirst Papers ofSurrealisminstallation taken by John

Schiff (Fig. 2),it is easy to see why histwinemight be interpreted as an obstacle

between viewer and art. The twine crisscrossesback and forth across the photographs frame,

making the gallery and the art on display appearinaccessible. This photograph, moreover, is the

best known and most consistently cited recordofFirst Papers of Surrealism, which might

explain the prevalence of this interpretation.Photographs, however, can be misleading, and

Schiff's is no exception.(13)Though thephotograph suggests a separation between the

viewerin this case Schiffand the art,Duchamp's twine installation was more

permeable and the art on display more accessiblethan many believe it to have been. The essay to

follow will clarify these misconceptions througha detailed study of theFirst Papers of

Surrealismphotographs and of the architecture ofthe gallery space itself, with the ultimate goal

being a more complete and accurate conception of the exhibition's design.

The aforementioned photograph by Schiff is reproduced, along with another installationshot (Fig. 3), in Lewis Kachurs bookDisplaying the Marvelous,the most comprehensive

study ofFirst Papers of Surrealism to date.(14)The same two photographs are also reproducedin Robert LebelsMarcel Duchamp.(15)These photographs constitute the most comprehensive

visual record of the exhibition and of his twine.Combined, they show the gallery in its near-entirety by presenting the room from opposite ends; one photograph looks north, the other

south. They do not show the gallery from a single vantage point, nor were they "taken from

click to enlarge

Figure 2John Schiff, his twineat First Papers of Surrealism(South

view), 1942. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Figure 3John Schiff, his twineat First Papers of Surrealism(North

view), 1942. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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the center" of the room, as Kachur has described them.(16)

To determine where Schiffs photographs were taken and what theyrepresent, it is necessary

to visualize the architecture of the gallery itself. For the sake of clarity, this essay isaccompanied by an interactive floor plan of the space (Fig. 4).(17)Approximately 54 feet long

by 25 feet wide, the room sits on the second floor of the Reid Mansions southern wing(Fig.

5).On the gallerys west side, situated directly above Madison Avenue, there are threewindows. The north and south ends each have two windows, which overlook the mansionscourtyard and Fiftieth Street, respectively. Even though the gallery windows were covered

during the exhibition, their locations are betrayed by light reflecting off the floor and are thuseasily discernable in Schiffs photographs. These same photographs do not show the

gallerys entrance, which was located at the middle of the east wall. They instead show onlythe ornate molding around the doorway, the entrance itself being hidden by the temporary

partitions set up for the exhibition.

click to enlarge

Figure 4 Figure 5

First Papers of Surrealismgallery

plan, 1942, Design by the author,2006.

New York PalaceHotel (formerly the

Whitelaw Reid Mansion), New York, 2006.Photograph by the author.

These partitions, each situated perpendicular to the nearest wall, allowed the Surrealists to

increase the hanging space. As illustrated in the floor plan, there were ten such partitions:

five ran the course of the west wall; two were placed at the north end; and three sat along theeast wall. At the south end was a small stage with a piano on it. (Though they did little to

change the gallerys layout, there were also six temporary partitions set parallel to anddirectly against the walls, presumably used to avoid putting holes in the rooms original

wood paneling.) On the whole, his twine was restricted to the ceiling space and the gapsbetween neighboring partitionsthe main exception to this rule being the space between the

two partitions flanking the entrance. There, a lack of twine allowed visitors to enter. Theinterior of the gallery was also free of twine and thus open to ambulation. Carroll Janis, the

son of Harriet and Sidney Janis and one of the children present at theFirst Papers ofSurrealismopening, confirms these details, recalling that there was free access down the

center of the large room, with partitioned niches oneither side.(18)

A close examination of Schiff's photographs makes it is possible to recreate where he stoodwhen shooting. These vantages, which are marked on the accompanying floor plan, have also

been recreated in two included photographs (Figs. 6-7).(19)Because the view of the rooms
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southern end shows the stage that was set up there, the view of the northern end must have

been taken from somewhere in the vicinity of this platform. Duchamp used hardly any twinein that area, so the photograph taken from the south (the north view) is without foreground

obstructions. This photograph in turn shows that its counterpart, the south view, was takenfrom between the partitions at the opposite end of the room. As twine was strung across these

partitions, the photograph taken there (the south view) represents the gallery as an area

closed-off by a web of intersecting lines. The photograph is therefore deceptive, as the spacebeyond the twine was actually open and easily accessible.

click to enlarge

Figure 6 Figure 7

L'Orangerie room at the New York

PalaceHotel (South view), 2006.Photograph by the author.

L'Orangerie room at the New York

PalaceHotel (North view), 2006.Photograph by the author.

In addition to providing information regarding the layout ofFirst Papers of Surrealism,these

photographs highlight the artificiality, or perhaps theatricality, of Schiffs process. Kachur

has described the photographs as being as straightforward as possible, but while that claimmight hold true for the north view, it is hardly the case with the south.(20)Because of the

twines layout, photographing the north view would have required little more than standingnear or atop the stage. Photographing the south view, however, would have entailed a more

involved process. To get this shot, Schiff had to stand behind the twine running between thenorthernmost partitions. If Duchamps installation was indeed a physical barrier, thenSchiffs task would have been quite demanding. But regardless of how easy or difficult the

twine was to circumvent, the photographs are nonetheless carefully orchestrated.

Specifically, Schiffs photographs and the means by which they were taken emphasize anddemonstrate the permeability of Duchamps installation atFirst Papers of Surrealism. Even

the south view, the one mostly obscured by his twine,nonetheless provides a relatively clearview of the exhibition. Moreover, the photographs actually seem to encourage the practice of

looking through his twine.They ask the viewer to acknowledge the installation, the galleryspace, and art beyond. It is something of a looking game: focus on the twine; focus on the

gallery; focus on the art. The game repeats as the viewer continues through the exhibition.Becoming more accustomed to the environment, the viewer may realize that the relationship

between the three entities is more a fluid partnership than a one-sided competition. Schiff'sphotographs suggest this sort of dynamic interaction with the twine; in their staging, they

actually document that experience.

click to enlarge
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Throughout the rest of theFirst Papers of

Surrealismrecords and materials, the concept of seeingthrough his twine,of allowing Duchamps installation to

somehow mediate the viewing experience, is consistentlyreiterated. A photograph fromNewsweek (Fig. 8),for

instance, shows Max ErnstsLe Surralisme et la

Peinture(1942) behind his twine.In this case, thephotographs small field of view limits the ability to locateeither the cameras vantage point or the placement of Ernsts

painting (though the work does appear to hang on one of thesix partitions set parallel to and directly against the gallery

walls). More importantly, theNewsweekphotographdemonstrates how easily one could have viewed the painting

despite the presence of the twine. Arnold Newman, anotherphotographer to take pictures of theFirst Papers of Surrealisminstallation, took at least two

photographs of his twine, both of which include Duchamp. In one(Fig. 9), the artist looks outcoyly from behind his twine; in the other (Fig. 10),he stands beside his 1913 Cimetire des

Uniformes et Livres(orNetwork of Stoppages, as it is known in English). In bothphotographs, his twine functions as a framing device, something to be recognized but not

focused upon.

click to enlarge

Figure 9 Figure 10

Arnold Newman, MarcelDuchamp,1942. Philadelphia

Museum of Art.

Arnold Newman, Marcel Duchampbehind his installation of "sixteenmiles of string,"1942. Zabriskie

Gallery website.

Figure 8

Max Ernst's Le Surrealism et laPeinturebehind twine at First Papers of

Surrealism, 1942. Newsweek,26 October1942.

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Since the geometric painting to Duchamp's right in the second

photograph by Newnam also appears in Schiffs south view,Cimetiredes Uniformes et Livresmust have hung on the partition between the

middle and northernmost windows of the west wall of the gallery. Thevantage point of Newmansphotograph, in turn, would have been just north of the gallerys

center.(21)This point is also marked on the included floor plan. That Duchamp was posed

beside this particular painting is not a coincidence.Cimetire des Uniformes et Livres,whichwas fully reproduced in the exhibition catalogue (Fig. 11), is a layering of imagery derivedfrom other paintings and drawings, the top level being the synapse-like forms of 3 Standard

Stoppages (1914), made by dropping meter-long threads from a height of one meter onto ahorizontal surface.(22)In other words, Newmans photograph shows a painting behind twine

of a painting behind twine. A more reflexive image could hardly be imagined.

Duchamp may well have collaborated with Newman on setting up the photograph.Duchamps designs for theFirst Papers of Surrealismcatalogue emphasize permeability and

the process of looking through. On the front cover is an image of a wall pocked with bulletholes through which Duchamp punched five actual holes (Fig. 12), while on the page facing

Sidney Janiss foreword to the catalogue, the artists participating in the exhibition are listedso that their names collectively create the shape of a keyhole (Fig. 13), again referencing theprocess of looking through.(23)The back cover is a detailed image of Swiss cheese (Fig.

14).(24)By emphasizing the transparency ofhis twine, Newmans photographs reiterate theiconography of the catalogue. If Duchamp did not actively collaborate with Newman in

creating the compositions of the photographs, they are nonetheless very much in keepingwith the central idea of theFirst Papers of Surrealisminstallation and catalogue.

click to enlarge

Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14

Front Cover, First Papers ofSurrealismcatalogue, 1942.Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Artists names in keyhole, First Papers ofSurrealismcatalogue, 1942. Philadelphia

Museum of Art.

Back Cover, First Papers ofSurrealismcatalogue, 1942. Philadelphia

Museum of Art.

The Newman photograph of Duchamp beside Cimetire des Uniformes et Livresalso shows

that twine was strung only from the edges of each partition on the sides closest to the middle

of the gallery. Each partition, moreover, was set not directly against the wall but out by twoor three feet. Such a layout would have made possible a navigable corridor ringing parts of

the gallerys east, north, and west walls. The corridor would have allowed passage around thegallerys perimeter and entrance into the niches between facing partitions. The existence of

such channels, however, is somewhat speculative. When asked, Carroll Janis could not

Figure 11

"Marcel Duchamp," FirstPapers of

Surrealismcatalogue, 1942.Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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confirm their presence, but nor could he deny the possibility that they had been there,

writing, I do not recall any corridor running around the back of the niches but I wasntlooking for it either!(25)

If there was not a continuous walkway, some other means of passage through his twine must

have been present. How else could Schiffs and Newmans photographs be explained? Janis

claims to [not] recall any real access into the niches, though he counters that, the stringhad a certain fragile characterone could have slipped under at certain points.(26)Jewell,whose account may be more reliable given his age at the time and the nature of his job,

provides a more convincing description. He reports that intrepid visitors could reachcloser proximity [to the paintings] by means of certain strategically placed apertures. (27)This

statement, beyond verifying the existence of openings in his twine,indicates that suchapertures were intentionally created for the express purpose of accessing the partitioned

niches. In Schiffs north view ofFirst Papers of Surrealism, such an opening appears to existbetween the partitions perpendicular to one another at the gallerys northwest corner. Close

to the gallerys north end and to the spot whereCimetire des Uniformes et Livreshung, thisopening was likely the one used by Schiff when he shot his south view of the exhibition and

by Duchamp when he posed for Newman.

Just how many people actually chose to traverse the skeins of theFirst Papers of

Surrealisminstallation is uncertain. Duchamp and Schiff count for at least two, and perhapsthere were more. But even if only a few visitors were intrepid enough to pass through the

installation, the possibility for such passage is a reminder that his twinewas far less animpediment than commonly believed. Moreover, for those who did not physically navigate

the installation, his twine arguably did more to enhance the paintings on display than it did toobscure them. It was, as Janis writes, a fantastically interesting see-through construction,

which transformed the gallery space into an unforgettable experience. Contrary to hisparents interpretation, Janis believes the twine actually helped explicate the new art.(28)

That Duchamps installation at theFirst Papers

of Surrealismexhibition would be concernedwith new, intriguing, and even playful methods

of looking at art is not surprising. Experimentingwith sight was for Duchamp a lifelong

preoccupation. A work like To Be Looked at(from the Other Side of the Glass), with One Eye,

Close to, for Almost an Hour(1918) predates theexhibition and demonstrates an early example of

how Duchamp chose to engage the practice oflooking. Concurrent withFirst Papers of

Surrealismand less than nine blocks awayatPeggy GuggenheimsArt of This

Centurygallery, DuchampsBote-en-valise (1935-41) was on display through the

peephole of a web-like apparatus.(29)Some years later, Duchamp would begin work onEtantdonns: 1 la chute deau, 2 le gaz dclairage(1946-66), a piece that summarizes many of

the artists diverse interests but is above all about the act of looking through. Since theFirstPapers of Surrealismcatalogue includes a reproduction of Duchamp'sIn the Manner of

Delvaux(1942) (Fig. 15), a collage showing a fragmented view of a female nude,Etant

click to enlarge

Figure 15

"Le Pch Originel," First Papers of Surrealismcatalogue,1942. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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donns, may have already been on Duchamps mind.(30)The use of certain other imagery in

the cataloguebullet holes, Swiss cheese, a keyholeonly furthers the likelihood of thatpossibility.

To what extent Duchamp himself would have related these or other works to theFirst Papers

of Surrealisminstallation is uncertain. From a material point of view, he may have

considered his twineto be more akin to 3 Standard Stoppagesor With Hidden Noise(1916),as both those works involve string. Compositionally, he may have found more in commonwith Sculpture for Traveling(1918), another temporary work, which involved stretching

parts of a bathing cap to different walls of a room. In truth, different aspects of histwinemight resonate equally with many different works by Duchamp, and likewise there

may be many ways to interpret the installation beyond the artists oeuvre alone. But analysisof that variety has never been this essays goal. The primary concern has always been the

reexamination of theFirst Papers of Surrealismtexts, photographs, and space. As histwineno longer hangs, having existed for not even a month, this documentary material is of

utmost importance. By synthesizing as much of this information as possible, the hope hasbeen the achievement of a more concrete understanding of the exhibitions design and of the

role his twineplayed there.

Notes

1. Agonized Humor, Newsweek, 26 Oct 1942, 76.

2. Ticket prices were listed as $1.10 for the opening preview and $.50 thereafter, as noted by EdwardAlden Jewell in Surrealists Open Display Tonight, New York Times, 14 Oct 1942, from ProQuestHistorical Newspapers the New York Times (1851-2003) .

3. At the request of Duchamp, Carroll Janis, the son of Sidney and Harriet Janis, and friends ran aroundand played ball in the galleries. The performance tickled some of the adult visitors and frustrated others.

In Lewis KachursDisplaying the Marvelous(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001), Kachur explains thechildrens activities in a section called Vernissage Consacr aux Enfants Jouant, l Odeur du Cdre,195-7.

4. Andr Breton and Marcel Duchamp, First Papers of Surrealism (New York: Coordinating Council ofFrench Relief Societies, Inc., 1942). As news of the installation spread, Duchamps handiwork soonacquired the catchy name Sixteen Miles of String.See, for instance, Robert Coates, The Art Galleries,Sixteen Miles of String,New Yorker,October 31, 1942, 72; Alfred M. Frankfurter, The PassingShows,Art News:November 1-14, 1942, 24. This moniker, however, is misleading, as no such lengthwas ever used; moreover, it is unnecessary when compared to the simpler title originally given in theexhibition catalogue: his twine. This phrase appears on the catalogues title page, alongside otherbasic information regarding the show. The same page also credits the hanging to Andr Breton, whoindeed helped coordinate the exhibition. Thus, although his twine may also be understood as wordplayon his twin, a reference to the friendship between Duchamp and Breton, that interpretation is certainlysecondary to the phrases purpose as a title credit.

5. Built in 1884 by McKim, Mead & White, the mansion was originally intended for railroad tycoon HenryVillard. Bankruptcy forced Villard to give up possession of the property, selling it to Whitelaw Reid, theneditor of the New York Tribune. Today, the estate is part of the New York PalaceHotel ,which calls thewing where the 1942 exhibition was held the Villard Mansion. See Christopher Gray,

Streetscape/Madison Avenue Between 50th and 51st Street; A Landmark 6-Home Complex in DarkBrownstone,New York Times, 21 Dec 2003, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers the New YorkTimes(1851-2003).

6. This exhibition is addressed in KachursDisplaying the Marvelousand Alyce MahonsSurrealism andthe Politics of Eros, 1938-1968(London: Thames and Hudson, 2005), among others.
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7. Kachur, 179.

8. Edward Alden Jewell, Inner Vision and Out of Bounds,New York Times, 18 Oct 1942, fromProQuest Historical Newspapers the New York Times(1851-2003).

9. Harriet and Sidney Janis, Marcel Duchamp, Anti-Artist,View5, no. 1 (March 1945), 18. ArturoSchwarz makes a similar interpretation in his The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp(New York: HarryN. Abrams, 1969), 515.

10. Duchamp quoted in Kachur, 183

11. Ibid., 189-90.

12. T. J. Demos, Duchamps Labyrinth: First Papers of Surrealism, 1942,October(Summer 2001), 94.

13. Interestingly, the reception of his twineis strikingly similar to that of DuchampsFountain, 1917. Inboth cases, photographs have been the primary means for seeing the original work. That is of coursetrue with his twine, a temporary installation seen only by gallery visitors. Fountainalso no longer exists,although replicas are on display at several museums, in particular the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Evenbefore the original was lost, however, Fountainwas for years known largely through Alfred Stieglitzs1917 photograph of the work. Stieglitzs photograph exaggerated the formal qualities ofFountain,

prompting critics to respond with overly aesthetical interpretations of the readymade. Yet time hasshown that Fountainis more an ironic and provocative critique of art than an objet dartper se. As thisstudy explains, Schiffs photograph ofhis twinesuggests a more imposing, impassible installation thanin reality. For more on the reception of Fountain, see William Camfield, Marcel Duchamp:Fountain(Houston: Menil Foundation, 1989), particularly pages 13-60.

14. Kachur, 176, fig. 4.3; 180, fig. 4.5.

15. Robert Lebel, Marcel Duchamp(New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1959), plates 111a and 111b.

16. Kachur, 168.

17. The floor plan was drafted by the author according to measurements taken at the gallery. Theplacement of the partitions and the stage have been determined as best as possible according to the

photographs by Schiff and Newman.

18. Carroll Janis, letter to the author, 31 January 2007.

19. The gallery, part of the New York PalaceHotel (see note 5), is now called LOrangerie and is ameeting/banquet hall. I visited the LOrangerie room on November 7, 2006, coincidentally the sixty-fourth anniversary of the First Papers of Surrealismclosing. Despite some renovations to the ceiling andthe installation of some modern fixtures, the room seems to have changed little since 1942. At the NewYork PalaceHotel ,I took a series of digital photographs and videos to document my visit. Inparticular, I tried to recreate the photographs taken by Schiff and Newman, which have been includedhere along with an exterior shot of the mansion.

20. Kachur, 187.

21. Ibid., 176, image caption 4.3, indicates this work as one by Robert Motherwell. It is not, however, ElMiedo de la Obscuridad(1942), the Motherwell work reproduced in the First Papers ofSurrealismcatalogue. That it is even by Motherwell seems questionable. Kachur also identifies in thisphotograph works by Paul Klee, Ernst, Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder, and Pablo Picasso. In the otherphotograph by Schiff, reproduced on page 176, Kachur identifies works by Picasso, Yves Tanguy, RenMagritte, Giorgio de Chirico, and Jean Arp.

22. For an animated illustration of how the works combine into a single whole, see Greg Alvarezs videoat http://www.marcelduchamp.net/stoppages.php.

23. It was actually Duchamp himself who fired a gun at the wall. See Martica Sawin, Surrealism in Exile
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and the Beginning of the New York School(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995), 222-6.

24. A debate has arisen regarding this cheese, particularly what exact type is shown. See Stephen E.Hauser, Marcel Duchamp Chose Emmentaler Cheese (1942),Tout-Fait: The Marcel Duchamp StudiesOnline Journal, Issue 3, 2003 (27 November 2006).

25. Janis letter.

26. Ibid.

27. Surrealists Open Display Tonight.

28. Janis letter.

29. Kachur, 202.

30. Thomas Singer claims in In the Manner of Duchamp, 1942-47: The Years of the MirroricalReturn,Art Bulletin86, no. 2 (June 2004) 346-69 that the origins of Etant donnscan be traced toInthe Manner of Delvaux. His analysis, however, does not closely consider the works reproduction intheFirst Papers of Surrealismcatalogue. Furthermore, while the conclusion drawn by Singer is correctthat the collage relates to Etant donnshis argument is confusing. His study overemphasizes the

importance of infrathinness, forgery, and mirrors, but does not discuss the striking visual similaritiesbetween a peephole and the cropping of In the Manner of Delvauxas it is reproduced.

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