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Marcel Duchamp

On this page: intro {Chronology} {Marcel's 'readymades speech'} {Some MAC-2001 "classic" archive stuff!} (share and enjoy!) -^_6

Chronology

One of the works (or of course, many similar ones) that was almost certainly known to Duchamp was in the manner of photography using stop-motion or strobe lighting. For example, Frizot, Michel (1998). A New History of Photography. Milan: kOnemann. ISBN 3.8290.1328.0, LCCN # P. 253. "Man Descending a StairCase", drawing after successive photographs by Albert Londe, from Paul Richer: Physiologie artistque de l'Homme en Mouvement, Paris, 1895. (Art and Physiology of man in motion). Is a diagram based on Londe's photography. Richer was interested in the anatomical aspects especially. There were several works (or a similar time-strobe) effect, the best know of which is: Nude Descending a Staircase. One of his most brilliant ideas was to "go the other way". That is, using the persistence of vision that the eye has to combine pictures to form an image in the eye: The rotating glass. The most common occurence in modern times is the piece of paper with a picture of a bird on one side, and a bird cage on the other. A rubber band or stick is passed through the center of these and when rotated quickly, the eye "sees" the bird in a cage. -^_6

Stuff

Duchamp is arguably the first artist of the 21st century. Quite a statement about a man who was well known to have "made his reputation by producing one of the smallest bodies of work" ??author?? Actually, as time went on, he made less and less art, played chess more, and probably inspired more modern artists than any other artist in recent times (ok, we could argue about Andy Warhol until the cows start painting lovely landscapes - according to cartoonist Gary Larsen, they are into more realism and surrealism than anything else; or so i've herad). START AGAIN When Marcel entered his "fountain" and "nude descending a staircase" and they were rejected, this was a major starting point of new art. The Fountain was considered a joke; perhaps it was. But, he had (like Picasso and Braque just a few years before) the power that any art has, because it has "the hand of the artist" to sanctify it, as well as the expectation of art being something in an "art space"; eg, museum, gallery, on a wall, etc. But, the Nude Descending was of a more serious nature in its rejection. It was clearly in the cubist tradition (as young as the tradtion was at the time); ie, it embraces not only the "multiple views of an object" (at a given moment in time, in the way that traditional sculpture does - we can walk around the art work and get different things from each view; rarely taking the chance to view it from below (eg, many of the "niche" statues of Donnatello, etc) or from above). It also exhibited the important feature of "freezing time" in a painting, which is what photography had being doing for almost a century. Look at the paintings of Degas and others as they began to paint scenes in a photo realistic style, as if they were taken with a camera. Also, almost every artist experimented with cameras and contributed importantly to the aesthetics of that young "art/science". Of, course, offering Duchamp the chance to simply change the title (ie, the "nude" business, not many people object to "staircases" unless, they have gout, a peg leg, etc ;) - only served to offend him even more. And now... Constrating of types and Duchamp's works There are at least two "atomic aspects" of found objects that Marcel clearly brought to the forefront. The object as craft/art. As i have said before, if we take a photo of an assembly line where the urinals are made. We have created a "document"; ie, the documentary process, much the same as *that* photo Helen Frankenthaler "stalking" across in front of her paintings. Is that art? But, if we wait for the light to be just so, to capture the gleem of the urinals on the assembly line, and take the photos and then work for hours in the dark room (or similarly with paintshop soft/ware, etc), then it is art; right? But, notice that the urinal (i would say) at the moment that Marcel came up with the idea and of course, when he chose or ordered the specific one - it became art. Compare this with the work of the sculptor Richard Sierra whose very large scale metal sculptures often require others to do the work. Even if he doesn't touch the metal at all (only sending emails, specification, etc to the foundary, the museum, etc) it is still his art. And what of Jeff Koons who commisions others to create art? Of course in the arena of film, we know that in many cases, we attribute THE FILM to the director, star, etc. But, these days, many, many people go into the making of the film. In the case of Babylon Five", the phrase "The name of the place is Babylon Five" (as other "behind the scenes" contributions, earned the title of "creative consultant" for "Demon With the Glass Hand" ??author?? And we have two other things to think about: 1) Marcel chooses the urinal, makes the artistic choice to display it in a most unusual manner; evoking over 5_000 (50_000? Woman of Willendorf) years of art history. 2) Names it appropriate to its attriutes; in a manner of speaking it IS a fountain. And then: "The Snow Shovel", simply labeled "In anticipation of the Broken Arm". I would say that these accomplishments alone deserve some serious study and contemplation; or you can go watch some reality TV show that in reality is all staged. After all, you don't *really* think they're going to let celebrities get in real danger do you? Now a manta ray is unbelievably terrifying, and i'm frightented by sea urchins which are much smaller. Meanwhile, "Pharmacy" i maintain to be one of the most beautiful works of all time; especially, these days when everything from ED to diet to hair loss, etc is to be treated with pills. "The Rotating Glass" has much more that (as Will Insley reminds us) can be investigated. So, is that sculpture or painting? Why does it matter? "The Large Glass" could yield any number of tribute works. And then of course, don't forget to find out WHO helped with the set for Marcel's chess game and other works. Well, that's it for now. email soonest with any serious ideas/comments/discussion (not that i guarantee to be able to get past king's pawn to king's pawn four ;). fleeding@hotmail.com

On Readymades

extracted from Richard Kostelenitz' "Modern Esthetics" published by the fine folks at Promethius Books. Marcel Duchamp: Apropos of "Readymades" Speech by Duchamp at the MOMA, 1961 October 19. IN 1913 I HAD THE HAPPY IDEA TO FASTEN A BICYCLE WHEEL TO A KITCHEN STOOL AND WATCH IT TURN. A FEW MONTHS LATER I BOUGHT A CHEAP REPORDUCTION OF A WINTER EVENING LANDSCAPE, WHICH I CALLED "PHARMACY "AFTER ADDING TWO SMALL DOTS, ONE RED AND ONE YELLOW, IN THE HORIZON. IN NEW YORK IN 1915 I BOUGHT AT A HARDWARE STORE A SNOW SHOVEL ON WHICH I WROTE "IN ADVANCE OF THE BROKEN ARM". IT WAS AROUND THAT TIME THAT THE WORD "READYMADE" CAME TO MIND TO DESIGNATE THIS FORM OF MANIFESTATION. A POINT WHICH I WANT VERFY MUCH TO ESTABLISH IS THAT THE CHOICE OF THESE "READYMADES" WAS NEVER DICTATED BY ESTHETIC DELECTATION. THIS CHOICE WAS BASED ON A REACTION OF VISUAL INDIF- FERENCE WITH AT THE SAME TIME A TOTAL ABSENCE OF GOOD OR BAD TASTS. IN FACT A COMPLETE ANESTHESIA. ONE IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC WAS THE SHORT SEN- TENCE WHICH I OCCASIONALLY INSCRIBED ON THE "READY- MADE". THAT SENTENCE INSTEAD OF DESCRIBING THE OBJECT LIKE A TITLE WAS MEANT TO CARRY THE MIND OF THE SPECTATOR TOWARDS OTHER REGIONS MORE VERBAL. SOMETIMES I WOULD ADD A GRAPHIC DETAIL OF PRESEN- TATION WHICH IN ORDER TO SATISFY MY CRAVING FOR ALLITERATIONS, WOULD BE CALLED "READYMADE AIDED". AT ANOTHER TIME WANTING TO EXPOSE THE BASIC ANTI- NOMY BETWEEN ART AND READYMADES I IMAGINED A "RECIP- ROCAL READYMADE": USE A REMBRANDT AS AN IRONING BOARD! I REALISED VERY SOON THE DANGER OF REPEATINGB INDIS- CRIMINATELY THIS FORM OF EXPRESSION AND DECIDED TO LIMIT THE PRODUCTION OF "READYMADES" TO A SMALL NUM- BER YEARLY. I WAS AWARE AT THAT TIME, THAT FOR THE SPECTATOR EVEN MORE THAN FOR THE ARTIST, ART IS A HABIT- FORMING DRUG AND I WANTED TO PROTECT MY "READY- MADES" AGAINST SUCH CONTAMINATION. ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE "READYMADE" IS ITS LACK OF UNIQUENESS ... THE REPLICA OF A "READYMADE" DELIVERING THE SAME MESSAGE; IN FACT NEARLY EVERY ONE OF THE "READYMADES" EXISTING TODAY IS NOT AN ORIGINAL IN THE CONVENTIONAL SENSE. A FINAL REMARK TO THE EGOMANICAC'S DISCOURSE: SINCE THE TUBES OF PAINT USED BY THE ARTIST ARE MANUFACTURED, AND READY MADE PRODUCTS WE MUST CONCLUDE THAT ALL THE PAINTINGS IN THE WORLD ARE "READYMADES AIDED" AND ALSO WORKS OF ASSEMBLAGE. (note, this makes an *excellent* performance text !!! ;) --42--

MAC-2001 "classic" on Duchamp

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Grand Chess Master Marcello (1887 - 1968)

Duchamp's comment on the commercialsim of art:  An exact copy of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa -- except sporting a cute little moustache and goatee!  Viva la differance! Text and image mirrored from the superbly fantastic site (highly recommended):
http://www.finesite.webart.ru/shocking/lhooq-1.htm In 1919, Marcel Duchamp came back from New York to Paris. In the U.S., his work "Nude descending a staircase" was celebrated and made him famous. Back in Paris, he drew a moustache and goatee with a pencil on a reproduction of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, and named his work "L.H.O.O.Q." This, when read aloud in French, gives "Elle a chaud au cul", which means something like "She's got hot pants" or "She has a hot ass." He used an image, reproduced so often that it had become trite and mocked one of the most famous works in the history of painting. Duchamp's work fell into an art movement that arose in Europe during World War I, known as Dada. This period came into being as a reaction against the unprecedented carnage of war. Artists felt that any civilization that could tolerate such brutality must be swept away, and all of its institutions, including traditional art, along with it. [Theatre of the Absurd on the MAC account!] Dada, therefore, was against everything. Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q. is rather typical for Dadaism, a rebellion against traditional and no more reflected habits and values.
delicately beige-yellow, the nude, a woman, walking down the stair case.  Her body has been totally abstracted into geometric shapes, until only the motion itself is catpured, in the background, we see what might be brown books on a book shelf, beside the stair-well behind her.  We see her waking with her right side towards us.  We see for the first time that art is more than just technique.  But.  Not, for the last time.

Nu descendant un escalier

(Nude descending a staircase)

(Above pic from the superb French Z U M B A site... http://franceweb.fr/zumba/Duchamp/ Tout Fait entry

A humorous bit here:

Even the art experts are STILL confused! And finally, this bit...
The Mona Lisa with a 'milk moustache'

Got Mona?

PLEASE NOTE: The management of this site would like to appologize to the world of art for the above painting, and it WILL be removed just as soon as possible! However, Pizo the Mad has escaped and can't be found. (He has the only password to the system! Sacre bleu! Interpol has issued an all points bulletin. However, he is a master of disguise, an international liberal and table dancer. He will be a rascally skaliwag to be found! But, have no doubt: We WILL find him! We have it on good advice, that he may have disguised himself as a "sea scape" painting (acrylic on canvas) -- sofa sized of course.