MARCEL DUCHAMPPerhaps the most influential Dadaist was
Marcel Duchamp(1887–1968), a Frenchman who became the cen-
tral artist of New York Dada but was also active in Paris. In 1913 he ex-
hibited his first “readymade” sculptures, which were mass-produced
common objects—“found objects” the artist selected and sometimes
“rectified” by modifying their substance or combining them with an-
other object. The creation of readymades, he insisted, was free from
any consideration of either good or bad taste, qualities shaped by a
society he and other Dada artists found aesthetically bankrupt. Per-
haps his most outrageous readymade was Fountain (FIG. 35-27), a
porcelain urinal presented on its back, signed “R. Mutt,” and dated.
The “artist’s signature” was, in fact, a witty pseudonym derived from
the Mott plumbing company’s name and that of the short half of the
then-popular Mutt and Jeff comic-strip team. As with Duchamp’s
other readymades, he did not select this object for exhibition be-
cause of its aesthetic qualities. The “art” of this “artwork” lies in the
artist’s choice of object, which has the effect of conferring the status
of art on it and forces the viewer to see the object in a new light. As
he wrote in a “defense” published in 1917, after an exhibition com-
mittee rejected Fountain for display: “Whether Mr. Mutt with his
own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He CHOSE
it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful signifi-
cance disappeared under the new title and point of view—created a
new thought for that object.”^17 It is hard to imagine a more aggres-
sively avant-garde approach to art. Dada persistently presented stag-
gering challenges to artistic conventions.
THE LARGE GLASSAmong the most visually and conceptually
challenging of Duchamp’s works is The Bride Stripped Bare by Her
Bachelors, Even (FIG. 35-28), often referred to as The Large Glass.
Begun in 1915 and abandoned by Duchamp as unfinished in 1923,The Large Glass is a simultaneously playful and serious examination of
humans as machines. Consisting of oil paint, wire, and lead foil sand-
wiched in between two large glass panels, the artwork presents the
viewer with an array of images, some apparently mechanical, others
diagrammatic, and yet others seemingly abstract in nature. Duchamp
provided some clues to the intriguing imagery in a series of notes that
accompanied the work. The top half of the work represents “the
bride,” whom Duchamp has depicted as “basically a motor” fueled by
“love gasoline.” In contrast, the bachelors appear as uniformed male
figures in the lower half of the work. They too move mechanically. The
chocolate grinder in the center of the lower glass pane represents mas-
turbation (“the bachelor grinds his own chocolate”). In The Large
Glass,Duchamp provided his own whimsical but insightful rumina-
tions into the ever-confounding realm of desire and sexuality. In true
Dadaist fashion, chance completed the work. During the transporta-
tion ofThe Large Glass from an exhibition in 1927, the glass panes
shattered. Rather than replace the broken glass, Duchamp painstak-
ingly pieced together the glass fragments. After encasing the recon-930 Chapter 35 EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1900 TO 194535-28Marcel Duchamp,The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors,
Even (The Large Glass), 1915–1923. Oil, lead, wire, foil, dust, and varnish
on glass, 9 1 –^12 5 91 – 8 . Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
(Katherine S. Dreier Bequest).
The Large Glassis a simultaneously playful and serious examination
of humans as machines. The bride is a motor fueled by “love gasoline,”
and the male figures in the lower half also move mechanically.35-27Marcel Duchamp,Fountain (second version), 1950 (original
version produced 1917). Readymade glazed sanitary china with black
paint, 1high. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.
Duchamp’s “readymade” sculptures were mass-produced objects that
the Dada artist modified. In Fountain,he conferred the status of art on
a urinal and forced people to see the object in a new light.1 ft.1 in.35-27A
DUCHAMP,
L.H.O.O.Q.,1919.