d'Harnocourt, Anne, Kynaston McShine — Marcel Duchamps

Prestel, 1989 Hardcover, with dust jacket. 345 pages. Text in English. As new. MARCEL DUCHAMP has changed the history of modern art. His impact on the twentieth century is rivaled only by that of Matisse and Picasso, and no other figure has so directly influenced recent art forms. Nude Descending a Staircase (1912), The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (1915-23), and the Readymades are acknowledged landmarks in the art of our century, but reference to them only hints at the scope of Duchamp’s oeuvre. He took up a succession of projects after his much- publicized precocious retirement from “art,” and upon his death in 1968 it was revealed that he had been secretly at work for twenty years on a major piece, the naturalistic assemblage entitled Etant donnés (1946-66). As the culmination of his artistic activity, the work allows us to see his total achieve-ment in a new light. This book, besides presenting a documented photographic survey of Duchamp’s works, offers ten original essays by eminent scholars and critics. The essays cover Duchamp’s explorations in the areas of language, poetry, the machine, alchemy, and the epistemology of art; on a more personal level, they treat the milieux and the friendships that shaped his character, the life style to which he adhered, and the influence his example has exerted. Passages from his lectures are included in the book, as well as comments and tributes by more than fifty colleagues, friends, and interested observers. Documentary illustrations, a chronology, and a bibliography complete the volume.