Rrose Sélavy

Rrose Sélavy is a fictitious character created by the French painter Marcel Duchamp in 1920.

Its name appears for the first time on a work of art, Fre (N) HS Wi (N) dow , model small-scale of window to the Frenchwoman ( fresh widow   = widowed fresh in English). The name of Rrose, which does not take whereas only one R , is registered in signature on the shelf. It appears then in a series of photographs carried out by Man Ray, where Duchamp poses disguised as a woman, made up and chapeauté.

The selected name evokes the sentence “Eros, it is the life”. Duchamp also affirms that it chooses the name “Sélavy” for its Jewish sonority (in Duchamp of the sign ). The double R initial evokes, him, the double L initial of certain names Welsh, like “Lloyd”. Duchamp also signs name of Rrose Sélavy a series of strange puns, for example: “The intimate Council of hygiene: it is necessary to put the marrow of the sword in the hair of liked. ”

From 1922, Robert Desnos takes again the character on his account at the meetings of hypnotic sleep which it then practices with the surrealist group and often invents aphorisms in form of approximate, poetic and erotic spoonerisms: “Will you Follow Rrose Sélavy to the country of the decimal numbers where it does not have debris there nor evils? ”, “Our sorrows are combs of white frost in drunk hair. ”… Part of these aphorisms will be included in the collection Corps and goods (1930), where they appear in numbered form. In the aphorism number 13, Desnos recognizes, for which can read, its debt towards the father of Rrose: “Rrose Sélavy knows the merchant of salt well. ”

In 1939, a collection of aphorisms appears under the name of Rrose Sélavy, Poils and kicks in all kinds.

In remembering this character, a gathering of pink eclectic objects was carried out with the Single Lieu of Nantes in 2001. The installation thus carried out bore the name of Rrose Selavy.

External bonds

  • Rrose Sélavy on Marcel Duchamp in French on the Web
  • Rrose Sélavy in '' Corps and goods '' of Desnos

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