The Essential Duchamp (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780300233117)

An engaging and accessible introduction to one of the 20th century's greatest and most enigmatic artists

This richly illustrated publication explores the full career of the hugely influential and endlessly fascinating French-American artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968). A pioneer whose creative output was predicated on a fundamental questioning of what art is, Duchamp is well known despite remaining mysterious as an artist, owing to his elusive persona and the unconventional nature of his work.

Focusing on the world-renowned Duchamp collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Essential Duchamp tells the artist's story through four key periods. The book begins with his early paintings and engagement with the avant-garde, then charts his abandonment of painting and invention of the readymade. This is followed by the creation of his alter ego Rrose S駘avy and the optical experiments of the interwar years, and, finally, by the making of ﾉtant donn駸 (1946-66), the project that occupied the artist in the final two decades of his life. Shorter accompanying texts include explanations of key terms Duchamp used for his innovative ideas--readymade, precision optics, pictorial nominalism, and infrathin--as well as interviews and statements by the artist about his own art and ideas.

Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Exhibition Schedule:

Tokyo National Museum
(10/02/18-12/09/18)

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
(12/22/18-04/07/19)

Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney
(April-August 2019)

Author: Matthew Affron
ISBN-10: 0300233116
ISBN-13: 9780300233117
Publisher: Yale University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/15/2019
Pages: 200
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.70h x 7.40w x 0.60d