Marcel Duchamp
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Related e |
Featured: |
Marcel Duchamp (July 28, 1887 – October 2, 1968) was a French avant-garde artist (he became an American citizen in 1955) whose work and ideas had considerable influence on the development of post-World War II Western art, best known for his readymade Fountain.
While he is most often associated with the Dada and Surrealism movements, his participation in Surrealism was largely behind the scenes, and after being involved in New York Dada, he barely participated in Paris Dada.
Thousands of books and articles attempt to interpret Duchamp's artwork and philosophy, but in interviews and his writing, Duchamp only added to the mystery. The interpretations interested him as creations of their own, and as reflections of the interpreter.
A playful man, Duchamp prodded thought about artistic processes and art marketing, not so much with words, but with actions such as dubbing a urinal "art" and naming it Fountain, and by "giving up" art to play chess. He produced relatively few artworks as he quickly moved through the avant-garde rhythms of his time.
- "The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act." --Marcel Duchamp, from Session on the Creative Act, Convention of the American Federation of Arts, Houston, Texas, April 1957.
Selected works
- Portrait of Chess Players (Portrait de joueurs d'echecs) (1911). Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (Nu descendant un Escalier. No. 2) (1912). Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Readymades of Marcel Duchamp (1915- )
- Fountain (1917)
- The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (La Mariée mis à nu par ses célibataires, même). Often called The Large Glass. (1915-1923). Philadelphia Museum of Art
- The Green Box. Notes and studies for The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. (1915-1923) Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Rrose Sélavy (1921- ) Duchamp's female "alter-ego" who signed some works and was photographed by Man Ray.
- Rotoreliefs (1920s) External link
- Anémic Cinéma Film (1926) UbuWeb
- Given: 1 The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas. (French: Etant donnés: 1. la chute d'eau/2. le gaz d'éclairage. Translation note: "Etant donnés" translates from French to English as "Being given", with emphasis on the existent 'Being' however the work is known in English as Given: 1 The....) (1946-1966) Philadelphia Museum of Art (outside view) (inside view)
See also
- Anti-art
- Armory Show
- Dada
- History of painting
- Shock art
- Found art
- Surrealism
- Western painting
- Gustave Courbet