Editorial Reviews: |
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Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) has, for a long time, been seen as a rather suspect anti-artist whose Dada- inspired playfulness offered nothing to the serious, committed artist or art-lover. Recently, however, his name has been dropped regularly by such contemporary luminaries as Damon Hirst (himself no stranger to controversy) and recognised as the inspiration for numerous important artists such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. When we return to the quality and breadth of Duchamp's century-spanning work (and the contemporaries who so admired him: Salvador Dali, Apollinaire, Man Ray, Andre Breton and Erik Satie)it becomes clear why this is so. The originally controversial Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (first exhibited in 1913 at the Armory Show in New York) was a vital inspiration to the Futurists and remains a cubist classic. His Fountain (a ready-made urinal exhibited to create a debate about the very nature of art) continues to inspire. Large Glass (1915- 1923) continues to beguile. Duchamp's last work Ãtant Donnés (1946-1966) continues to disturb. This book, from the essential World of Art series, provides both a good basic biography of the artist and a fine overview of his works. Although not as detailed on each piece as, for example, a book such as Juan Antonio Ramirez'sDuchamp this is certainly a wonderful way into the strange world of one of the 20th century's most enigmatic and yet important artists. --Mark Thwaite
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