Marcel Duchamp: The Bachelor Stripped Bare: A Biography - Hardcover

Alice Goldfarb Marquis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0878466444 ISBN 13: 9780878466443

Publisher: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2002

Synopsis

Marcel Duchamp: The Bachelor Stripped Bare is not the first full-length biography of Duchamp, but it is the first to present him in all his human contradictions and to take a refreshingly objective look at his real contribution to modern art. The well-known facts are explored here: Duchamp's myriad personal relations (with family, lovers, collectors and artists ranging from Man Ray, Picabia and Breton to the Stettheimer sisters and the Arensbergs); the creation of major works such as the "readymades" and the "Large Glass"; his passion for chess and supposed abandonment of art. But beyond this, author Alice Goldfarb Marquis looks past the diffident, humorous mask that Duchamp wore with acquaintance and intimate alike, to explore the passions and insecurities that motivated many of his artistic and personal evolutions. She separates the artist from the con artist, to determine just how profound an influence Duchamp has really been. Based on numerous unpublished sources and first-hand interviews, Marcel Duchamp: The Bachelor Stripped Bare stands as a groundbreaking contribution to the ever-burgeoning field of Duchamp studies.

About this title

About the Author:

Alice Goldfarb Marquis is a visiting scholar at the University of California at San Diego.

From Library Journal:

The grandfather of postmodernism and a consummate trickster, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) remains one of the most complicated characters in art history. In addition to an intellectually demanding oeuvre, he made public statements about his life and work that were often elusive, even contradictory. Journalist and historian Marquis (Alfred H. Barr, Jr.) sets out to present what she feels is a much-needed objective look at the artist, the man, and the conundrum. Though she doesn't attempt to discredit Duchamp or previous Duchamp scholarship, she doesn't take his Olympian stature at face value either. Even Duchamp enthusiasts who might bristle at statements like "Duchamp's art, like tripe, is an acquired taste" will likely thrill to the previously unpublished interviews, letters, and bits of gossip contained here. This alone makes the sure-to-be-controversial biography a noteworthy addition to Duchamp scholarship. The uninitiated may want to start with Calvin Tompkins's more admiring Duchamp: A Biography, but this work is recommended to anyone who wants to explore further. With color plates of major works and candid snapshots of the artist and his circle. In contrast to Marquis's fresh approach, the monograph Marcel Duchamp presents solid but typical essays on the master by Duchamp scholars. One of curator Szeeman's goals is to elucidate Duchampian ideas and their effect on other artists, specifically Jean Tinguely. The publisher hoped to have this supersede previous volumes by reproducing individual works in a larger scale and by including some more obscure artwork. But consequently every item is given more or less equal visual importance, which may cause confusion about the actual size of the original. Still, this handsome and fairly comprehensive volume would be useful to libraries that don't already own Anne D'Harnoncourt's Marcel Duchamp, the retrospective catalog by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Douglas McClemont, New York
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0878466444
• ISBN 13: 9780878466443
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368