Hatrack (French: Porte‐chapeaux) is a sculpture conceived by Marcel Duchamp in New York around 1916–1917. The original object is lost. The work is known through a small number of representations— two shadows (1918), a studio photograph (1916–17, published later) and a derived print (1941), plus a 1964 blueprint and a 1964 wood edition produced under the direction of Duchamp by Arturo Schwarz.[1] Taken together, these “snapshots” do not agree in hook‐count, curvature, or overall geometry. As a result, institutional cataloguing, auction metadata, and secondary literature describe the object in divergent ways.
Duchamp introduced the readymade after his move from Paris to New York (1915), emphasizing the role of naming, dating, and context over craft. In interviews, he also spoke of a “rehabilitated” (mathematical) perspective and the “serial characteristic” of the readymade.[2] His 1911–15 notes (published as the Green Box and the White Box) repeatedly frame perception as a sequence of cuts or “snapshots.”[3] In notes composed between 1913 and 1915 (published as The Green Box in 1934), Duchamp emphasized the importance of the date and instant of selection in the identity of a readymade, sometimes characterized as a “snapshot” quality that ties each instance to time and circumstance. For Hatrack, the surviving six representations are:
- 1918 – Painted shadow in Tu m’: a hatrack silhouette with 2 long and 3 short hook segments when rotated for reading; asymmetries and cropping are evident.[1] 1918 – Photographic shadow (Ombres portées / Cast Shadows): shows 3 long and 2 short hooks; connections between long and short segments are ambiguous.[1] - 1916–17 – Studio photograph (published in the 1960s; retouched print used for 1941): image used as source for the Boîte print; Shearer counts 2 long and 3 short hooks; compositing/retouching cues noted.[1] - 1941 – Boîte‐en‐valise print (from 1916–17 photo): a working proof reveals cut‐and‐paste assembly, indicating deliberate construction of the image.[1] 1964 – Blueprint (signed “okay, Marcel Duchamp”): depicts 2 long and 3 short hooks with unorthodox junctions; linework appears traced from a photograph, retaining perspective distortions inappropriate to an engineering drawing.[1] - 1964 – Wood model (edition of 8, by Schwarz): a carved, radial object with six equal‐length hooks arranged 3+3; its geometry does not match the 1964 blueprint or earlier depictions; installation orientation is unclear as a functional wall rack.
No original, store‐bought 1916–17 hatrack survives. In 1964, Duchamp oversaw the production of authorized editions of several readymades, including Hatrack (wood, edition of 8 plus standard proofs), on the basis of photographs and Duchamp’s notes. Title usage varies (Hat Rack, Hatrack, Porte‐chapeaux); dates are typically given as 1917/1964.
Early representations show the object suspended by string (studio photo; Cast Shadows) or cast as a shadow (Tu m). The 1964 model’s equal hooks, radial symmetry, and carving suggest a reconstruction rather than a straightforward wall‐mounted rack; its practical orientation as a “hatrack” is non‐obvious compared to period bentwood comparanda (e.g., Thonet).
Institutional and auction records for Hatrack present inconsistent metadata—titles, materials, dimensions, and installation notes—reflecting the mismatch among representations (1916–1964) and the 1964 edition’s attempt to stabilize a single form.