Aka Marcel Duchamp

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.

First published in 1973, this continues to be the definitive book on the artist.

Artist of the Century. These eleven illustrated essays explore the structure and meaning of Duchamp's work as part of an ongoing critical enterprise that has just begun.

Marcel Duchamp left behind a large volume of correspondence, more than a thousand documents forming a valuable archive of primary source materials on one the 20th Century's most important cutural figures. In his letters, Duchmap writes about his latest plans, works in progress, concepts such as the "ready-made," his passion for chess, the mundane details of life, as well as extraordinary ideas. The letters are reproduced in their entirety along with chronological and biographical data illumintaing the circumstances behind the letters. An essential volume for art historians and students of 20th Century culture.

A groundbreaking reading of Duchamp's work as informed by Asian “esoterism, ” energetic spiritual practices identifying creative energy with the erotic impulse. Considered by many to be the most important artist of the twentieth century, the object of intensive critical scrutiny and extensive theorizing, Marcel Duchamp remains an enigma. He may be the most intellectual artist of all time; and yet, toward the end of his life, he said, “If you wish, my art would be that of living: each second, each breath is a work which is inscribed nowhere, which is neither visual or cerebral.” In Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life, Jacquelynn Baas offers a groundbreaking new reading of Duchamp, arguing in particular that his work may have been informed by Asian “esoterism, ” energetic spiritual practices that identify creative energy with the erotic impulse. Duchamp drew on a wide range of sources for his art, from science and mathematics to alchemy. Largely overlooked, until now, have been Asian spiritual practices, including Indo-Tibetan tantra. Baas presents evidence that Duchamp's version of artistic realization was grounded in a western interpretation of Asian mind training and body energetics designed to transform erotic energy into mental and spiritual liberation. She offers close readings of many Duchamp works, beginning and ending with his final work, the mysterious, shockingly explicit Étant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau 2° le gaz d'éclairage, (Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas). Generously illustrated, with many images in color, Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life speculates that Duchamp viewed art making as part of an esoteric continuum grounded in Eros. It asks us to unlearn what we think we know, about both art and life, in order to be open to experience.

A revised and expanded edition of one of the most original books ever written on the enigmatic artist Marcel Duchamp. Genius, anti-artist, charlatan, guru, impostor? Since he arrived on the scene in 1914, Marcel Duchamp has been called all of these. Almost no other artist of the twentieth century has inspired more passion and controversy, nor exerted a greater influence on art. At the same time, Duchamp continually challenged the very nature of art and strove to redefine it as conceptual rather than as product by questioning why the medium was mostly a "retinal" experience. Always the provocateur, Duchamp never ceased to be engaged, openly or secretly, in activities and works that transformed traditional artmaking. Through his works like Fountain; Bicycle Wheel; L.H.O.O.Q.; and Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, Duchamp played with the idea of what art can be, opening new possibilities for future generations. This revised entry in the World of Art series, written by three leading experts on twentieth-century art, and published with support of Duchamp’s widow, is one of the most original books written on this enigmatic artist. Featuring a new chapter and preface, as well as updates throughout from specialist scholars who are active in their fields, this is the definitive introduction to Duchamp. Thoroughly illustrated, this volume combines thirty years of research by the authors and challenges history’s presumptions, misunderstandings, and pieces of misinformation about Marcel Duchamp and his legacy.

“Girst elegantly unravels the skeins of Duchamp’s thinking. . . . An essential compendium for puzzling out an essential artist.” —Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation Among the most influential artists of the last hundred years, Marcel Duchamp holds great allure for many contemporary artists worldwide and is largely considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern art. Despite this popularity, books on Duchamp are often hyper-theoretical, rarely presenting the artist in an accessible way. This new book explores the artist’s life and work through short, alphabetical dictionary entries that introduce his legacy in a clear and engaging way. From alchemy and anatomy to Warhol and windows, The Duchamp Dictionary offers a pithy and readable text that draws on in-depth scholarship and the very latest research. Thomas Girst includes close to 200 entries on the most interesting and important artworks, relationships, people, and ideas in Duchamp’s life—from The Bicycle Wheel and Fountain to Walter and Louise Arensberg, Peggy Guggenheim, Katherine Dreier, and Arturo Schwarz. Delightful, newly commissioned illustrations introduce each letter of the alphabet and accompany select entries, capturing the irreverent spirit of the artist himself.