Dreier, Katherine

In 1918, at the express command of Katherine Dreier, Duchamp executed his last oil painting (MD-114), which also happens to be his largest canvas (27.5 by 122.5 inches) (fig. 13). Called Turn . . . , this is a mural which was designed to complement Dreier s library, filled with numerous... 

On the other hand, we have a very different kind of interpretation forthcoming from Katherine Dreier, the spinster lady (herself a tire bouchonl) who commissioned the bizarre piece. In the context of her known esoteric pursuits, it was, of course, to be expected that she would have applied to this work a typical occultist interpretation. As a full-blown Theosophist, Katherine Dreier naturally stressed the potentially spiritualist, or antimaterialist, intentions propelling the mysterious painting she commissioned from Marcel Duchamp. According to Miss Dreier,... 

Bohan, R. L. The Societe Anonyme s Brooklyn Exhibition Katherine Dreier and Modernism in America. Ann Arbor UMI Research Press, 1982. 

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