Tableaux Aquarelles Dessins par F. Picabia appartenant à Marcel Duchamp.

(Paris): Alph Bellier, 1926. First edition. Octavo. [31 pages]. Scarce catalogue for the auction sale, at Hotel Drouot (March 26, 1926) of the 80 Picabia works of art owned by Marchel Duchamp. With money inherited from his parents Duchamp decided to make a calculated investment into the art market. Duchamp thus acquired, directly from the artist, eighty paintings, drawings and watercolors by Picabia. The works selected were supposed to represent all the phases of Picabia’s output. The works were acquired with the well-defined plan to then sell them at auction and it would appear that this catalogue, differentiating from the normal auction catalogue, was designed by Duchamp, the different graphics of each chapter highlighting the different phases of Picabia’s work. The sale was a great success and Duchamp made a substantial profit. The catalogue includes details of the 80 lots, with 14 works illustrated. A very good plus copy in printed wrappers with the loose sheet “80 Picabias” by Rrose Sélavy in which Duchamp under the guise of Selavy, a fictional female character that he created, retraces the stylistic evolution of Picabia. A nice copy of this scarce work.