Coffee Mill 1947

This rare 1947 original engraving, Coffee Mill, by Marcel Duchamp is a profound example of his conceptual approach to mechanical imagery and Dada aesthetics. Signed by the artist and issued in an edition of only 455, this engraving revives one of Duchamp’s seminal motifs first conceived in 1911 for his brother’s wedding gift, later integrated into his groundbreaking The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass).

In Coffee Mill, Duchamp deconstructs a mundane household object into a mechanomorphic diagram with rotating cogs, arcs, and schematic arrows. Its linear precision evokes technical drawing while subverting functionality through poetic abstraction. This echoes his lifelong interrogation of art, machine, and erotic metaphors – the coffee mill’s grinding process reimagined as a mechanical allegory of desire, a recurring theme in Duchamp’s oeuvre.

Printed in 1947, this engraving was part of a limited edition portfolio celebrating Duchamp’s influence on modern art. The minimalist black line work retains a Dada irreverence while anticipating conceptual and minimalist art in its reduction of visual language to pure diagrammatic form.

Born in 1887, Marcel Duchamp revolutionised 20th-century art with his readymades, intellectual wit, and radical critique of aesthetic convention. From Fountain to The Large Glass, his works transcended painting and sculpture, pioneering conceptual art and inspiring generations from Pop to Fluxus and contemporary practice.

This signed engraving is not only a testament to Duchamp’s mechanical and erotic symbolism but also a collector’s masterpiece that embodies his playful subversion of form and meaning. It stands as an essential work for connoisseurs of Dada, Surrealism, and the avant-garde – a rare chance to own a direct expression from the mind of one of modernity’s most influential artists.

Surrealism - Cubism

Framed - Image size: 18cm x 8cm - Edition of 455 - Signed by the artist

Good condition