SECTION D'OR

Marcel DUCHAMP

The Section d'Or ("Golden Section" in French), also known as Groupe de Puteaux or Puteaux Group, was a collective of painters and critics associated with an offshoot of Cubism known asOrphism (a term coined by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire). Based in the Paris suburb of Puteaux, they were active from 1912 to around 1914, coming to prominence in the wake of their controversial showing at the Salon des Indépendants in the spring of 1911.The group's title was suggested by Jacques Villon, after reading a 1910 translation of Leonardo da Vinci's Trattato della Pittura by Joséphin Péladan. Peladan attached great mystical significance to the golden section (French: Section d'Or), and other similar geometric configurations. For Villon, this symbolised his belief in order and the significance of mathematical proportions, because it reflected patterns and relationships occurring in nature. The notable members of group are Guillaume Apollinaire, Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Henri Le Fauconnier, Albert Gleizes...