Artist - Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp(July 28, 1887 – October 2,1968)was a French/American artist whose work and thoughts had substantial influence on the development of post-World War II Western art, and his recommendation to modern art collectors helped shape the tastes of the Western art world. His power continues into the 21st century.

While he is most often linked with the Dada and Surrealism movements, his contribution in Surrealism was largely behind the scenes, and after being concerned in New York Dada, he barely participated in Paris Dada.

Thousands of books and articles effort to interpret Duchamp’s work and philosophy, but in interviews and his script Duchamp only added to the mystery. The interpretations were paying attention and creations of their own, and as reflections of the interpreter.A playful man, Duchamp prodded idea about artistic processes and art advertising, not so much with words, but with actions such as dubbing a urinal art and naming it Fountain, and by “giving up” art to cooperate chess. He produced comparatively few artworks, as he rapidly moved during the avant-garde rhythms of his time.

“The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.”

Living and working in a studio in Montparnasse, Marcel Duchamp’s early on works were Post-Impressionist in method but he would become perhaps the most powerful of the Dada artists. A student at the Academy Julian, his influence is still powerfully felt to this day by contemporary artists.

At his eldest brother Jacques’ home, in 1911 the Duchamp brothers prearranged a regular discussion group with artists and critics such as Francis Picabia, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Leger and others that soon were dubbed the Puteaux Group.