176FOLLOWING MATERIALITYproposal of an even more radical ontological collapse of resemblance
upon itself. In a compelling argument, Thierry de Duve posits the
Duchampian readymade as an object more closely related to the history
of painting than to that of sculpture.^43 What he means is that the ready-
made was the sign of a crisis: the signifier of an impossibility to continue
to paint.^44 Painting had been pushed to relentlessly reinvent itself by the
pressure that photography and film placed upon realistic representation.
The introduction of the readymade object in the category of the art ob-
FIGURE 5.4 Pablo Picasso, Compotier avec fruits, violon et verre (Bowl with Fruit,
Violin, and Wineglass), 1913. Charcoal, chalk, watercolor, oil paint, and coarse char-
coal or pigment in binding medium on applied papers, mounted on cardboard. 64.8
× 49.5 cm. Open-access image courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.