Marcel+Duchamp


 * Marcel Duchamp** was a French visual artist who worked in the early part of the 20th century. He is best known for his work in the Dada and Cubist movements, working with both paint and sculpture. Some of his more famous works include //Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 ,// a Cubist painting//,// and //Fountain,// a Dadaist sculpture//.//

=Biography=

Marcel Duchamp (July 28th, 1887 - October 2nd, 1968) was born in Blaineville-Chevon Seine-Maritime, France. Duchamp was the son of Eugene and Lucie Duchamp, he attended Lycee Pierre-Corniellel in Rouen, and later attended Academie Julian. It is not surprising that Duchamp is accredited with such skill as an artist and such open-mindedness as a creative intellectual. His family had a conducive verve running through most of its members' blood. His maternal grandmother, Emile Nicolle, was a known painter and engraver and packed their household full of her art. When the family was not engrossed in the grandmother's art, they spent much of their time on activities that are still today believed to optimize and increase intellectual and logical prowess; such as, a substantial amount of reading, chess, musical composition and of course, most likely instigated by his grandmother, painting. Three of Duchamp's siblings became very successful artists: Jacques Villon as a painter, Raymond Duchamp-Villon as a sculptor, and Suzanne Duchamp-Villon as a painter. The eldest, Jacques, was Duchamp's primary mentor and influenced his earliest works, as he sought to emulate his brother's Impressionist style. At the age of 25 Duchamp stopped painting and focused his energy on 3-dimensional works of art, most famously his "ready-mades" which were manufactured objects that he repurposed as art. The first of which was //Bicycle Wheel// which, as the title would suggest, was a bicycle wheel. Arguably the most famous of his ready-mades was his //Fountain//, a urinal turned sideways emulating a drinking fountain. During World War I Duchamp moved to the United States where he was already well-known and highly acclaimed. Many galleries were eager to work with him as a painter but Duchamp refused, not wanting to devote his time exclusively to painting. Indeed, he showed little interest in making much money off of his works at all, giving many pieces away to friends. The pieces he did sell he let go for very low prices, instead making money as a French teacher. Later in life Duchamp returned to France, but with @World War II on the way he, along with a number of Surrealist artists, fled to New York, smuggling along his material. He spent most of the rest of his life in the United States, marrying Teeny Sattler in 1954. =Selected Works=

= = =Nude Descending a Staircase and Cubism= The painting //Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2// is a striking example of the methods and spirit of the style of cubism. The rational eye and mind will say this is not a painting of what the title would suggest, but just a series of lines and shapes filed in with color. This cannot be a nude, because this isn't like anything the eye has ever seen. However, Duchamp's aim was to express movement and time within a still frame, conveying the whole act of a nude descending a staircase as one would observe it occurring. Indeed, when one understands this, one can envision this abstract shape as all moments of the motion of a nude person moving down a staircase. This idea of showing more than just one view and moment are key to the motivation behind cubism. Put simply, those that painted in cubist style felt that painting in traditional styles was too limited, and by painting in this way they were able to convey all things that they wished. Indeed, if //Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2// had not been painted in a cubist manner, it could be said that the nude wasn't really descending the staircase at all, but rather just hovering somewhere along the staircase. = = =Duchamp Quotes:= The following are some of Marcel Duchamp's most famous quotes :
 * //Les joueurs d'échec//(Chess Players), 1911
 * //Roue de bicyclette// (Bicycle Wheel), 1913/1964
 * //Neuf Moules Mâlic// (Nine Malic Moulds), 1914-1915
 * //Fontaine//(Fountain), 1917/1964
 * //Fresh Widow//, 1920/1964
 * // Nu descendant un Escalier. No.2 ( // Nude Descending a Staircase No.2) , 1912
 * //La boîte-en-valise//(Box in a Valise), 1936-1941/1968
 * //Prière de toucher// (Please Touch), 1947


 * "Chess can be described as the movement of pieces eating one another".
 * "I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products".
 * "I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art--and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position".
 * "I don't believe in art. I believe in artists".
 * "I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste".
 * "Living is more a question of what one spends than what one makes".
 * "The individual, man as a man, man as a brain, if you like, interests me more than what he makes, because I've noticed that most artists only repeat themselves".

=Examples of Duchamp's 3-Dimensional Art=




 * Another timeline/bio/slideshow of Duchamp's works:**

[|Duchamp's Works]

=Interpretation and Criticism= [|Art Criticism: Marcel Duchamp by Caroline Cros]

Marcel Duchamp recomposed his technique numerous times. His work is associated with, Dadaism, Cubism, and Surrealism. We can see these movements in a number of prototypical works of his. For instance, //Nude Descending a Staircase No.2// is representative of Cubism. The nude is not portrayed as impressionistic nor realistically. Instead, Duchamp effectively layers moments of movement on top of each other creating a sense of progression of time and space within a two-dimensional format. Rather than focusing on mimesis with an emphasis on singularity, Duchamp portrays a multiplicity of character. The person is indeed one person but only comes together as several versions of themselves superimposed again and again. On the other hand //Fountain// is more aligned with Dada. Dada was characterized as anti-art and Duchamp took this ideal to heart (though the ready-mades did precede the Dada movement proper by a few years. Duchamp's //Fountain// functions as an argument against language and hegemony; //Fountain// is only a fountain - only a piece of art - because an artist says so. The picture of the urinal is so striking since the viewer of the work signifies it with actions considered profane in the public sphere and relegated to the private one. However, Duchamp discredits the viewer by calling the urinal a fountain. Essentially, Duchamp is creating a semantic clash for the viewer by having the title signify beauty and public events while the actual work signifies private and socially unacceptable events.

=Interview With Marcel Duchamp=

media type="youtube" key="7CFQY0Yf1iI" height="315" width="420" =External Links=

Quotes from Marcel Duchamp An Interactive Timeline of Duchamp's Life

=References=

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