This extremely rare screenprint and lithograph poster on parchment paper was designed by Marcel Duchamp for the historic 1953 Dada exhibition that he assembled, catalogued and installed at the legendary Sidney Janis Gallery in New York. This mixed media work, which also served as the exhibition catalogue and announcement, and included essays by Jean Arp, Tristan Tzara, Richard Huelsenbeck, and Jacques Levesque, features a staircase design, with blocks of text running diagonally down the sheet and an overlay of bright orange lettering. It was printed on disposable parchment paper, and Duchamp suggested a garbage bin be offered to visitors so that they could crumple up the poster and throw it away. Carroll Janis would later recall that Duchamp, in characteristic fashion, decided not to show up for his own opening. Given the ephemeral quality of the thin paper, and the fact that recipients were instructed to destroy it upon leaving the exhibition, this post remains one of the most desirable, valuable, scarce and sought-after pieces of art historical ephemera. Carroll Janis donated hers to the Museum of Modern Art, and a few other examples are held in the permanent collection of other major institutions like the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Very few others have survived. This poster invitation bears trace of original folds, as issued.


For fans of Marcel Duchamp and lovers of DADA - this is an iconic and valuable piece of art historical ephemera