Rrose Sélavy

Ryerson and Burnham Libraries Special Collections

Published 1939; rebound 1940-1941

Mary Reynolds (American, 1891-1950)
Written by Marcel Duchamp (American, born France, 1887-1968)

Marcel Duchamp titled this book after his female alter-ego, Rrose Selavy. Fascinated by the psychological power of humor, Duchamp chose the surname as a clever riff on the common French phrase c’est la vie. The pronunciation of the first name Rrose sounds like Eros, making the name’s translation to “love/sex, that’s life!”

Presented with this unique context, Mary Reynold’s binding of Duchamp’s work adds another layer of Surrealist play through her decision to deboss the title into cardboard and frame it with rope.

The book’s endpapers display bold drawings of insects over pochoir (stencil) prints of foliage. Two of the insects—the Malaysian giant leaf bug and the marsh crane fly—have the evolutionary ability to camouflage themselves into their environment by mimicking something else. This idea of mimicry inspired the Surrealists, possibly because of an essay by Roger Caillois titled “Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia,” published in the Surrealist magazine Minotaure in 1935. With this collection of puns, Duchamp presented a camouflaged version of himself via the persona of Rrose Selavy.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Ryerson and Burnham Libraries Special Collections

Artist: Mary Reynolds
Title: Rrose Sélavy
Place: Paris (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1939
Medium: Full sienna, pink, and beige goatskin with cotton cord, grey-card onlays with trial stamps of a typographic plate made for Duchamp's Box in a Valise. Endpapers printed in pochoir with fern-leaf pattern and hand-drawn insects in black ink
Inscriptions: Inscription on half title page: Chère Mary, Marcel
Dimensions: 17.1 × 12.2 × 1.1 cm (6 3/4 × 4 13/16 × 7/16 in.)
Credit Line: Mary Reynolds Collection, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
Reference Number: 2019.172

https://archive.artic.edu/reynolds/bindings/p-E31937.php
Caitlin Haskell, ed., with Tamar Kharatishvili and Alivé Piliado Santana, Frida Kahlo’s Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2025), 48, fig. 44 (color ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Frida Kahlo’s Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds, Mar. 29–July 13, 2025, fig. 44.

The artist (1891–1950), Paris; by descent to her brother, Frank Brookes Hubachek (1894–1986), Chicago, and Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), Paris, 1950; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1951–1955.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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