COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0015072
image_record_id
aahi0015072
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Fresh Widow
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
1920
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Marcel Duchamp (French, 1887-1968)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
French painter, sculptor, and theorist whose work and ideas have served as a starting point for a conceptual approach to art. By refusing to accept the standards and practices of the established art world, Duchamp redefined our understanding of what constitutes an art object. Duchamp was born into a family of artists, and by the age of 15, he turned to painting, executing a series of landscapes in the Impressionist style. From 1910, Duchamp emulated the structural compositions and brushstrokes of Cézanne, and used an intense color palette reminiscent of The Fauves. While living with his brother in Puteaux, a suburb of Paris, Duchamp came in contact with a host of avant-garde writers and poets, notably Léger, Apollinaire, and Kupka, and as a result his painting shifted to incorporate the fragmented style of Cubism. This exposure to Cubism, along with his interest in the photographic sequences of Eadweard Muybridge resulted in the work, "Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2" (1912). Duchamp tried to show the work at the Salon des Indepéndants in Paris, but the title, inscribed on the canvas, was objected to and he withdrew his submission. When it was shown at the Armory Show in New York in 1913, the work gained critical opposition and his name and reputation became forever associated with it. In 1913, Duchamp began to abandon the traditional tools and techniques of painting, attempting to elevate art and the art making process above the purely visual and commercial. During this time, he came in contact with the writing of obscure German philosopher Max Stirner, who believed that the right of an individual was to be held supreme, considered above and beyond the needs of society. It is believed that Duchamp took that notion and applied it to the art object, investigating the possibility of making works of art that were not motivated by aesthetic conditions. It was during this time that he created "Bicycle Wheel," a work created from an inverted bicycle wheel mounted to the seat of a stool. This was one of the first of what he referred to as a "ready-made," a work of art that is deemed so simply through the selection of the artist. In 1915, Duchamp created "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even" (1915-1923) comprised of two large sheets of painted glass in two sections. The "Bride," an anthropomorphic shape, is confined to he top section, and "the bachelors," a composite machine made from a glider and a chocolate grinder at the bottom. The work explores themes of sexual opposition, geometry, physics, and the existing factors of chance. Accompanying the "Glass" was a large series of notes, to be consulted as a type of guide. During the teens and 1920s, Duchamp continued to create "ready-mades," giving them ambiguous titles. From 1923-1942, excluding brief trips to the USA, he remained in France where his interest in chess became increasingly more important than creating art. He maintained a low profile in the art world, even though he participated in various Dada and Surrealist exhibitions in Paris and New York. From 1942-1968, Duchamp lived in New York. For 22 years he worked on, and kept secret, his final work, "Etant donnés: 1 La Chute d'Eau, 2 La Gaz d' éclairage," a three-dimensional installation. Duchamp exerted little influence on the work of his contemporaries, but following the installation of his work in the Arensberg Collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1954, he became a cult figure among the avant-garde, both in Europe and the USA. Subsequently, he has been seen as perhaps the most important figure to affect the shift towards conceptual art in the late 20th century. (ULAN)
Work Worktype:
sculpture (visual works)
work_type
sculpture (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
sculptures and installations
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
sculptures and installations
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
wood, paint, glass, leather, paper, tape
Work Measurements (display):
30 1/4 in (H) x 20 7/8 in (W) x 4 in (D)
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
National Gallery of Art
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Repository or Site) refid:
2008.33.1
Work Location (Repository or Site) refid type:
accession
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Washington, D.C.
Work Location (Geographic) role:
repositoryLocation
Image Source Reproduction citation:
Fletcher, Valerie J., and Rhys Conlon. Surrealist Sculpture: Marvelous Objects from Paris to New York. Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2015. Print.
image_source_copy_from_print_name
Fletcher, Valerie J., and Rhys Conlon. Surrealist Sculpture: Marvelous Objects from Paris to New York. Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2015. Print.
Image Source Reproduction citation
false
Image Source Reproduction refid:
978-3791354651
Image Source Reproduction page number:
21
Image Source Reproduction plate-figure number:
7
Image Source Reproduction refid type:
ISBN
Image Rights (display):
© The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Image Rights fair use checklist:
1) use of this image is for education and educational research; 2) access is restricted to University of Colorado and Auraria Higher Education Center communities; 3) the original photographer is credited if known; 4) the image is published; 5) the amount of the work in relation to the whole is needed for education or educational research; 6) the number of derivatives is the minimum required for education or educational research; 7) the image has not been found to be reasonably available for sale; 8) duplication of the image does not violate preexisting contracts.
Work Rights (display):
© Marcel Duchamp
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see