35 Duchamp Works Donated to Hirshhorn Museum by Levine Couple

Barbara and Aaron Levine, prominent American collectors, have donated 35 works by Marcel Duchamp to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. This is the largest private collection of Duchamp's works, making the Hirshhorn the U.S. museum with the most Duchamp pieces after the MoMA. The donation includes major works such as "La Mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires," a version of "L.H.O.O.Q." (the mustachioed Mona Lisa), readymades like "Cappelliera" and "Pettine," drawings including "Pendu Femelle," and a "Boite en Valise." Also included are portraits of Duchamp, photographs by contemporaries like Man Ray, Tristan Tzara, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, and Irving Penn, and a library of about 150 books, exhibition catalogs, postcards, and posters from the 1930s. The Levines, listed in Artnet's Top Collector, built their collection over 20 years. The Hirshhorn, which previously owned only one Duchamp work, plans a 2019 exhibition featuring the donated pieces, exploring Duchamp's historical context and legacy. The donation coincides with the 50th anniversary of Duchamp's death on October 2, 1968. The U.S. tax policy encourages such donations, with individual giving accounting for 1.6% of GDP, according to Giving USA Foundation.