Marcel Duchamp

January 5, 2009 "Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp was born in Blainville-Crevon, a Normandy village, as the son of Eugène Duchamp, a notary, and Marie-Caroline-Lucie Duchamp (née Nicolle). Marcel was the fourth of seven children. Four of them gained fame as artists. Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1876-1918) became a sculptor and Jacques Villon (1875-1963) and Suzanne Duchamp (1889-1963) became painters. Duchamp himself started to paint in his teens. Duchamp's artistic aspirations were.. read more...

WEIRD WEDNESDAY: Art Museum Toilets Elevated to an Art Form

January 5, 2009

“’This museum was founded in the spirit of Marcel Duchamp, who in 1917 produced the sculpture Fountain and changed the way we viewed art,’ stated Director Robert Schlemielle. ‘This piece essentially showcased that art may not be hanging in the proud walls of a museum gallery, but in the common objects and in even in the restroom. So today we launch this website asking some of the same questions about the current art establishment and its high brow art.’”

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Rose Selavy

January 3, 2009 Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, and Francis Picabia all created female alter-egos at some point during their careers.  In her article Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray: Dada in drag Joanna  Pitman argues that all three of these alter-egos "related to their broadening concept of what it meant to be an artist', but Duchamp's was the most complex.  Unlike Man Ray and Picabia, Duchamp created artworks, such as Why Not Sneeze Rose Selavy? (1921) and Fresh Widow (1920), under.. read more...

Burghers of Zurich vote to support Dada birthplace

January 2, 2009

"Voters in Switzerland’s business capital Zurich decided on Sunday to continue subsidizing the Cabaret Voltaire, the birthplace of the anarchic Dada movement."

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The Music of Marcel Duchamp

January 1, 2009 "Although Marcel Duchamp's musical oeuvre is sparse, these pieces represent a radical departure from anything done up until that time. Duchamp anticipated with his music something that then became apparent in the visual arts, especially in the Dada Movement: the arts are here for all to create, not just for skilled professionals. Duchamp's lack of musical training could have only enhanced his exploration in compositions. His pieces are completely independent of the preva.. read more...

Work avoidance:
the everyday life of Marcel Duchamp’s readymades

December 31, 2008 "[Duchamp's readymades] are objects for cleaning, hanging, storing, drying, preening, and peeing: objects whose purpose is to aid in self-presentation, objects that allow homes and offices to function. They are the unsung aids that allow us to do the work of maintaining house and body, so that we are better prepared to do our other work, like making art, for instance. But this was not the situation of these objects in Duchamp's studio: the hat rack was suspended from the.. read more...

Duchamp’s Persona

December 30, 2008 In her article Duchamp's Hidden Noise: A Lifelong Flirtation With Fame, Alice Goldfarb Marquis considers Duchamp's relationship to the media and the persona which he created for himself through interviews.  Marquis asserts that "Duchamp worked harder at burnishing his persona than he ever did at creating art"  and that he "established his image as art's bad boy"  through his witty, "bizarre", and often contradictory statements to t.. read more...

Marcel Duchmap/ Readymades

December 30, 2008

"The strange thing about ready-mades is that I’ve never been able to come up with a definition or an explanation that fully satisfies me." [Marcel Duchamp] …Commentators have tried, but in vain. The elements have been covered by a scientific straight jacket whose thickness is even more surprising since the accounts from that era are rare and ambiguous."

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Some Experimental Piffles of the Silent Era

December 30, 2008

The author reviews some experimental silent films, including Duchamp’s Anemic Cinema and Man Ray’s Le Retour a la Raison, and concludes that they are "piffles", interesting only within the larger context of the artists’ works. 

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