Hatrack (French: Porte‐chapeaux) is a readymade conceived by Marcel Duchamp in New York around 1916–1917. The original object is either lost or no original, store‐bought 1916–17 hatrack survives.
In the Boite en Valise, the work is identified as "readymade". In catalogue raisonne, 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 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.
Taken together, these “snapshots” conform to a pattern in printmaking known as a state. A state is a different form of a print, caused by a deliberate and permanent change to a matrix such as a copper plate (for engravings) or woodblock (for woodcut). Those who wish to refine the work of their predecessors, without wishing to create a confusing new numbering, have used Roman numerals with alphebeticals ("IIa", "IVb" and so forth.)
Overview
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.
Marcel Duchamp, Tu m', 1918
Title usage varies (Hat Rack, Hatrack, Porte‐chapeaux); dates are typically given as 1917/1964. Known via six distinct states in multiple dimensions and formats.
Scholarly Discussion
Standard narratives describe readymades as unaltered, mass‐produced objects reframed by titling and display. By contrast, close comparison of the Hatrack corpus (1916–1964) shows non‐identity across the surviving “snapshots” (hook‐counts/curves differ; blueprint and edition diverge).
Shearer, et. al.
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).
- Hook numbers, lengths, and curvatures change across illustrations 2A–F; 10–11A–C; 14A–E; 15A–B; 17–18A; a single 3D form cannot be reconstructed from the full set. - Blueprint vs. edition: 1964 blueprint (signed “okay, Marcel Duchamp”) does not match Schwarz Edition final 3D form; the first version was reportedly rejected. - Comparandum: 1904 Thonet bentwood hatrack (#11022) is the closest historical type but still does not match any single depiction; see Related Works.
1918
1918 (photo)
1941
No illustration
1960s
1964
See also
Object information was first published by Rhonda Roland Shearer, Stephen Jay Gould et. al., “Why the Hatrack is and/or is not Readymade,”
Tout‑Fait. (2000; updated 2019).
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