The Essential Duchamp (Paperback)

Paperback. An engaging and accessible introduction to one of the 20th centurys 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 (18871968). 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 artists 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 Selavy and the optical experiments of the interwar years, and, finally, by the making of Etant donnes (194666), 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 ideasreadymade, precision optics, pictorial nominalism, and infrathinas well as interviews and statements by the artist about his own art and ideas.Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:Tokyo National Museum (10/02/1812/09/18)National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (12/22/1804/07/19)Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney (AprilAugust 2019) "Published on the occasion of the exhibition The Essential Duchamp, Tokyo National Museum, October 2-December 9, 2018; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, December 22, 2018-April 7, 2019; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, April-August 2019"--Colophon. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…