naranjitoo:

Marcel Duchamp - Tzanck Check (1919)

Unable to pay his American dentist, Daniel Tzanck, in cash, Duchamp crafted and signed a false cheque written to the amount he was billed. Delighted by the gift of a real-life signed Duchamp piece, Tzanck kept the cheque for many years until, so the story goes, Duchamp bought the artwork back (at a far greater sum than the fee for his cavity fillings).

Across the middle in red is the word ‘ORIGINAL’, which plays on the authenticity of the check as a legal promissory note but also speaks to this check’s status as a unique art object, signed by the artist. Art historian Katy Siegel notes in Art Works: Money (2004) that the signature is both the “ultimate proof of identity” and “a promise to pay — the essence of credit. The signature…assures the buyer that the aesthetic and social value created by the artist is contained within it.” 

(via literarypiano)