marcel duchamp

RROSE SÉLAVY

Rrose Sélavy was born through photographs of Marcel Duchamp in drag, taken by Man Ray between 1920 and 1921. In these portraits, Duchamp invented a feminine alter ego, adopting a controlled, enigmatic femininity that was both performative and poetic. Rrose Sélavy was also a linguistic gesture: a French play on words meaning “Éros/rose, c’est la vie” (Eros/rose is life).

Together with Man Ray, Duchamp placed the image of Rrose Sélavy on a readymade perfume bottle — Belle Haleine, Eau de Voilette. This gesture marked one of the earliest conceptual approaches to glamour in art: the artist, through the figure of Rrose Sélavy, became at once producer, model, and image of the perfume’s consumer.

Rrose Sélavy was Duchamp’s tool for dismantling authorship, gender identity, and the systems that assigned artistic value. More than a playful fiction, Rrose Sélavy operated as a conceptual signature: by attaching the name to linguistic…