Duchamp In Context

Between 1912 and 1918, Marcel Duchamp made hundreds of notes in preparation for the execution of his major work, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (1915-23), also known as the Large Glass. Considering these notes to be as important as the Glass itself, Duchamp published three sets during his lifetime - 178 notes in all. But since his death in 1968, more than 100 further notes about the work have been discovered and published.

Marcel Duchamp's Fountain has been cited as the most important art 'work' of the Twentieth century. It has considerable influence on contemporary Artists. This book gives essential background to any understanding of Duchamp and his art. Duchamp's French language, literary precedents and historical context frame the Fountain and give new insights into it's meaning, or lack thereof...

Published on the fiftieth anniversary of Marcel Duchamp’s death, Duchamp’s Last Day offers a radical reading of the artist’s final hours. Just moments after Duchamp died, his closest friend Man Ray took a photograph of him. His face is wan; his eyes are closed; he appears calm. Taking this image as a point of departure, Donald Shambroom begins to examine the surrounding context—the dinner with Man Ray and another friend, Robert Lebel, the night Duchamp died, the conversations about his own death at that dinner and elsewhere, and the larger question of whether this radical artist’s death can be read as an extension of his work. Shambroom’s in-depth research into this final night, and his analysis of the photograph, feeds into larger questions about the very nature of artworks and authorship which Duchamp raised in his lifetime. In the case of this mysterious and once long-lost photograph, who is the author? Man Ray or Duchamp? Is it an artwork or merely a record? Has the artist himself turned into one of his own readymades? A fascinating essay that is both intimate and steeped in art history, Duchamp’s Last Day is filled with intricate details from decades of research into this peculiar encounter between art, life, and death. Shambroom’s book is a wonderful study of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century.

Marcel Duchamp is often viewed as an "artist-engineer-scientist," a kind of rationalist who relied heavily on the ideas of the French mathematician and philosopher Henri Poincaré. Yet a complete portrait of Duchamp and his multiple influences draws a different picture. In his 3 Standard Stoppages (1913-1914), a work that uses chance as an artistic medium, we see how far Duchamp subverted scientism in favor of a radical individualistic aesthetic and experimental vision. Unlike the Dadaists, Duchamp did more than dismiss or negate the authority of science. He pushed scientific rationalism to the point where its claims broke down and alternative truths were allowed to emerge. With humor and irony, Duchamp undertook a method of artistic research, reflection, and visual thought that focused less on beauty than on the notion of the "possible." He became a passionate advocate of the power of invention and thinking things that had never been thought before. The 3 Standard Stoppages is the ultimate realization of the play between chance and dimension, visibility and invisibility, high and low art, and art and anti-art. Situating Duchamp firmly within the literature and philosophy of his time, Herbert Molderings recaptures the spirit of a frequently misread artist-and his thrilling aesthetic of chance.

This wide-ranging and definitive volume illustrates how Marcel Duchamp's groundbreaking practice influenced 20th- and 21st-century art. This book documents Barbara and Aaron Levine's extraordinary collection of Duchamp's work, one of the most significant private holdings of the artist in the world, which has been promised to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Acquired over decades, these artworks span Duchamp's entire career, demonstrating his critical role in the development of 20th-century art and his influence on artists working today. The collection features an exceptional group of readymades, such as Hat Rack, Comb, and With Hidden Noise, which exemplify how Duchamp elevated ideas over craftsmanship and aesthetics. Prints and drawings by the artist offer an introduction to his unique approach to reproductions, while portraits of Duchamp by Man Ray, Irving Penn, Diane Arbus, and Henri Cartier-Bresson reveal other sides of this enigmatic genius. The book also contains insights about Duchamp's significance as an artist and the rise and fall of his critical fortunes, as well as an interview with the collectors. This strikingly designed volume, with fold-outs and comparative illustrations, places Duchamp squarely in the context of both modern and contemporary art, and affirms his radical status as an artist with continued relevance today. Published with the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution

aka Marcel Duchamp is an anthology of recent essays by leading scholars on Marcel Duchamp, arguably the most influential artist of the twentieth century. With scholarship addressing the full range of Duchamp's career, these papers examine how Duchamp's influence grew and impressed itself upon his contemporaries and subsequent generations of artists. Duchamp provides an illuminating model of the dynamics of play in construction of artistic identity and legacy, which includes both personal volition and contributions made by fellow artists, critics, and historians. This volume is not only important for its contributions to Duchamp studies and the light it sheds on the larger impact of Duchamp's art and career on modern and contemporary art, but also for what it reveals about how the history of art itself is shaped over time by shifting agendas, evolving methodologies, and new discoveries.

"Transit, transitional, transition: Dalia Judovitz catches Marcel Duchamp on the run with his art in a suitcase and his thought all boxed and ready to go. . . . She demonstrates how the theme of transition, reappearing from work to work, makes each piece reproduce some other piece, while all continue to exemplify an original which can no longer be found and which has no creator."—Jean-François Lyotard

Situating Duchamp firmly within the literature & philosophy of his time, Herbert Molderings recaptures the spirit of a frequently misread artist & his aesthetic of chance.