New York, 31 March 2026 - Phillips will present DUCHAMP & COMPANY, Curated by Francis M. Naumann, an auction dedicated to the profound influence of Marcel Duchamp, the French-American avant-garde artist and chess player. Featuring over 100 lots by Duchamp alongside his contemporaries and the artists he influenced, the sale takes place on 23 April in New York, alongside the seasonal Editions & Works on Paper and Modernism sales. Presented in collaboration with the Surrealist scholar, curator, author, and collector Francis M. Naumann, it offers collectors a rare opportunity to engage with and bid on some of the artist's most iconic prints, multiples, designs, and musings.
The title chosen for the sale, DUCHAMP & COMPANY, comes from words used by Alfred Stieglitz in a letter to Georgia O'Keeffe, describing the people who brought the original 1917 Fountain, the artist's famed urinal, to his gallery to be photographed. Here the phrasing refers to the many contemporary artists influenced by Duchamp who feature in the auction, among them Man Ray, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Pettibone, Mike Bidlo, Sherrie Levine, John Baldessari, and Joseph Kosuth. An exhibition at 432 Park Avenue will be open to the public from 16 to 22 April, ahead of the auction on 23 April at 3pm ET.
Kelly Troester and Cary Leibowitz, Deputy Chairpersons and Worldwide Co-Heads of Editions, said, "Marcel Duchamp irrevocably reshaped how we think about art and authorship, and this sale has been conceived as an homage to that enduring legacy. The project feels especially timely following renewed institutional attention to Duchamp's work, including an imminent exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, which has reanimated public and scholarly conversations around his practice." They added that the works gathered in DUCHAMP & COMPANY "reflect an ongoing conversation between the artist and generations who responded to his wit, curiosity, and radical openness," expressing their gratitude to Francis M. Naumann for the scholarship and discernment he brought to shaping the selection.
The leading lots
Among the highlights is De ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy (La Boîte-en-valise), série F (1935 to 40 / 1966), one of the artist's most involved and intricate multiples, consisting of 80 miniature replicas of his most enduring works, essentially a miniature retrospective, all contained in a signed red leather valise. It carries an estimate of $350,000 to $450,000. The dinner invitation card L.H.O.O.Q. Shaved (1965), estimated at $30,000 to $50,000, emphasizes Duchamp's irreverent intellect and humor: he mounted playing cards decorated with a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, each inscribed "rasée," a playful hint that this famous woman of the Renaissance has a shaved face, unlike his 1919 image of her, which famously included a mustache and beard in a memorable expression of Dada iconoclasm.
For the traditional collector
For collectors who gravitate to more traditional printmaking, the sale includes The Chess Players (1965), estimated at $15,000 to $20,000, an etching of the artist's brothers playing chess based on a charcoal drawing from 1911 that was originally planned as a gift for the contributing artists of a benefit exhibition for the American Chess Foundation. Phillips is also pleased to offer Duchamp's exceedingly rare 1937 pochoir-colored reproduction Nude Descending a Staircase, estimated at $60,000 to $90,000, produced after the artist's painting of the same name and signed on a small denomination French postage stamp in his own gesture of authenticity. The selection of editions extends to the Rotoreliefs (Optical Disks) (1935 / 1965), offered at $10,000 to $15,000, while the dialogue with later artists is captured by Mike Bidlo's Fractured Fountain (Not Duchamp Fountain 1917) (2015), estimated at $30,000 to $40,000.
Highlights at a glance
The auction takes place on 23 April 2026 at 432 Park Avenue, New York, with viewing from 16 to 22 April. The sale arrives as Phillips marks its 230th anniversary in 2026, more than two centuries after the house was founded in London in 1796 by the charismatic auctioneer Harry Phillips. Long offering a distinct and forward-looking approach to sales and collecting, Phillips today provides dedicated expertise across Modern and Contemporary Art, Design, Photographs, Editions, Watches, and Jewels, with auctions held primarily in New York, London, Geneva, and Hong Kong.
Estimates do not include the buyer's premium; prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer's premium.
(Press Release)
