Author Description

<p><b>A collection of provocative quotations from one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century</b><br><br><i>Duchamp-isms</i> is a selection of illuminating quotations from Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), one of the most important figures in the history of modern art. A painter, sculptor, writer, and chess player, Duchamp changed the very definition of art with his “readymades”—everyday objects such as a bicycle wheel or bottle rack that he titled, signed, and presented as art. He provoked critics and the public with works such as the Cubist-Futurist painting <i>Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2</i> (1912) and <i>Fountain</i> (1917), a readymade composed of a men’s urinal signed “R. Mutt.” Prizing the intellectual over the aesthetic, Duchamp inspired later movements like Minimalism, Conceptualism, and Pop Art. Delightful and witty, <i>Duchamp-isms </i>offers rich insights into the mind of a true icon of modern art.<br><br>The quotes in <i>Duchamp-isms</i>, drawn primarily from interviews, have been selected and introduced by Francis Naumann, a leading authority on Duchamp, and organized in eight thematic sections: philosophies of art; painting; Dada and Surrealism; the readymades; chess; literary influences; commercialism in art; and philosophies of life and death. The book also features a brief chronology of Duchamp’s life and career.<br></p><ul><li>“I have always had a horror of being a ‘professional’ painter. The minute you become that, you are lost.”</li><li>“Humor and laughter—not necessarily derogatory derision—are my pet tools. This may come from my general philosophy of never taking the world too seriously—for fear of dying of boredom.”</li><li>“Art can never be adequately defined, because the translation of an aesthetic emotion into a verbal description is as inaccurate as your description of fear when you have been actually scared.”</li><li>“Art never saved the world. It cannot.”</li></ul>