Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp worked from the beginning of the 20th century through the 1960s influencing the art world in ways that no other artists can claim. He had a part, even if it was small in nearly every art movement from the cubists to the futurists to the dada to surrealism and through to pop art, creating his own genre intermitted called ready made art.
Duchamp was a French Artist born in 1887 and moved to Paris in 1904 to pursue his career as a painter. Over the next twenty years he did his most famous works including Nude Descending a Staircase no. 2 and Fountain. Nude Descending a Staircase no. 2 was painted in 1912 and is a cubist depiction of a woman walking down a flight of stairs. This was one of Duchamp’s first and only attempts in cubist paintings (other paintings include Portrait of Chess Players, The King and the Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes, and The Passage from the Virgin to Bride). Even though he had little experience with cubist painting he achieved a sense of vitality that no one else in that movement quite captured. Cubist theory says that a cubist painting is the depiction of a subject from multiple views at one time, but Duchamp changed their rules and depicted his subject from multiple views over time as to give a sense of movement and space. This piece was rejected by the Salon des Indépendents because they felt he was mocking the cubists. They also did not like the titled painted on the bottom left looking like a caption with reinforced their impression of his comic relief.
There was no question that as a painter Duchamp was along side even the most gifted painters of the time. What he lacked was faith in art itself, and he looked to replace aesthetic values in his work with something that was juxtaposed to the so-called common-sense world. As early as 1913 he began studies for an entirely awkward piece: The Large Glass, or The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. At this time he rejected what he called retinal art and adopted
Duchamp was a French Artist born in 1887 and moved to Paris in 1904 to pursue his career as a painter. Over the next twenty years he did his most famous works including Nude Descending a Staircase no. 2 and Fountain. Nude Descending a Staircase no. 2 was painted in 1912 and is a cubist depiction of a woman walking down a flight of stairs. This was one of Duchamp’s first and only attempts in cubist paintings (other paintings include Portrait of Chess Players, The King and the Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes, and The Passage from the Virgin to Bride). Even though he had little experience with cubist painting he achieved a sense of vitality that no one else in that movement quite captured. Cubist theory says that a cubist painting is the depiction of a subject from multiple views at one time, but Duchamp changed their rules and depicted his subject from multiple views over time as to give a sense of movement and space. This piece was rejected by the Salon des Indépendents because they felt he was mocking the cubists. They also did not like the titled painted on the bottom left looking like a caption with reinforced their impression of his comic relief.
There was no question that as a painter Duchamp was along side even the most gifted painters of the time. What he lacked was faith in art itself, and he looked to replace aesthetic values in his work with something that was juxtaposed to the so-called common-sense world. As early as 1913 he began studies for an entirely awkward piece: The Large Glass, or The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. At this time he rejected what he called retinal art and adopted
Bibliography: View Magazine, Duchamp special number, 1945 Camhi, Leslie Did Duchamp Deceive Us All?. 2003. Online. Feb 2006. . Beyer, Michael Duchamp is Dandy!. 2004. Online. Feb 2006. . Video, Kultur."Marcel Duchamp:." In His Own Words. 26 Jun 2001. Video Archive. Mar 2006. Beyer, Michael. "Duchamp is Dandy!." Qualifying Paper 2004. Mar 2006 .