Speaking of Fresh Widows

Marcel Duchamp was in the throes of completing and framing his Large Glass when he made Fresh Widow in 1920, a French window-shaped sculpture that evoked, it was said, the widows of World War I.

marcel duchamp's fresh widow is a freestanding miniature replica of an eight-pane set of french doors, painted sort of a turquoise, with black leather over the glass panes and push pins for the knobs. it is set on a thin matching turquoise plinth, which is then mounted on a thin dark wood plinth. the title and rose selavy 1920 copyright notice painted on the turquoise base in black block letters are not very legible from this angle. this 1964 edition of the 1920 original was offered for sale by levy gorvy at some point, and the marcel duchamp estate run by his step grandchildren claim copyright over it all
Marcel Duchamp, Fresh Widow, 1920, Schwarz Edition, 1964, as offered at some point by Levy Gorvy

By the time Duchamp agreed to Arturo Schwarz’s proposal to fabricate Fresh Widow and other early works in editions in the summer of 1964, Col. D. Harold Byrd, who owned the Texas School Book Depository, had already removed the sixth floor window from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK.

the black painted six-over-six casement window with a worn surface from which jfk was shot in 1963 is mounted in a freestanding white and honey oak finished frame, with unfinished wood shims or brackets holding it open in a way that evokes the shooting i guess. two cursive printed bronze colored plaques are affixed to either side of the base that read, the window, jfk was assassinated from this window on november 22, 1963, this image was prepared by heritage auctions which put this window up for sale in june 2026

The convoluted authenticity and ownership disputes over the window displayed for many years as The Window or The Sniper’s Perch are described briefly in the Heritage Auctions listing for the window. The auction includes all the documentation, court transcripts, and original museum plaques, that establish “conclusively and without ambiguity the identity, provenance, and legal ownership of this historic artifact.”

18 June 2026, Lot 47079: President John F. Kennedy Assassination: The Texas School Book Depository “Sniper’s Perch” Window [heritageauctions]