On the underside of a small birdcage containing a thermometer, a cuttlefish bone and a 152 marble cubes cut to resemble sugar lumps, read the riddlesome words, “Why not sneeze Rose Sélavy?” The work of Marcel Duchamp, the Daddy of Dada who shocked the genteel New York art world of 1917 by bringing a urinal into a society show, coining the concept of the readymade, this particular sculpture takes its name from the French artist’s strange and elusive female persona. The sneeze, it should be said, is a euphemism for an orgasm. Rrose Sélavy first appeared in 1920, but the second ‘r’ in her name wasn’t added until 1921 when she added her signature to Francis Picabia’s collage L’Oeil Cacodylate. Soon after, she began appearing in photographs taken by Man Ray, fashion photographer, fellow artist and informal Dada compatriot. The perfect Duchampian character, Rrose brought to life the artist’s well-marked and symbolic use of language as well as all the playfulness and irony of Dadaism. Her name, a pun on the French adage “Eros, c’est la vie,” has inspired everything from collections of surrealist poetry to an oyster bar in Manhattan.