MARCEL DUCHAMP — L.H.O.O.Q., 1919. Museum of Modern Art postcard, 2006

The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019. Original MoMA artist postcard reproducing Marcel Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q., 1919. Colour offset print on postcard stock, 10.5 × 15 cm. Image to recto; museum, collection and rights information with barcode to verso. MoMA catalogue number 59506. Retained in a transparent protective sleeve. © 2006 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

Condition: Very good. Light handling and faint surface marking. Minor wear and old adhesive visible on the protective sleeve.

In 1919, Duchamp took a commercially printed reproduction of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, added a moustache and goatee in pencil, and inscribed the phonetic title L.H.O.O.Q. He described the result as a ‘rectified readymade’: an existing printed object altered just enough to enter another category. The work measures 19.7 × 12.4 cm and remains in a private collection.

Issued by MoMA in 2006, this reproduction returns the work to something close to its original form. A postcard altered into an artwork becomes an artwork reproduced as a postcard. The reverse supplies the next layer: artist, nationality, dates, medium, dimensions, ownership, copyright, museum address and barcode.

The work belongs to a private collection. Its image circulates under the name of a museum. The full sequence is retained in the fine print.

Ships flat, securely backed and tracked from the UK.