Dada (1916-1922)

Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade MoMA Dada Theme

Take a moment to think about what makes something a work of art. Does Marcel Duchamp’s sculpture fulfill any of your criteria for something to be called a work of art? Share this information with your students: Take a moment to think about what makes something a work of art. What is art supposed to accomplish? Who is it for? Does Marcel Duchamp’s sculpture fulfill any of your criteria for something to be called a work of art? Support your observations with visual evidence. Duchamp made this work by fastening a bicycle wheel to a kitchen stool, rendering these two functional objects unusable. Notice that there is no tire on the bicycle wheel. To challenge accepted notions of art, Duchamp selected mass-produced, often functional objects from everyday life for his artworks, which he called Readymades. He did this to shift viewers’ engagement with a work of art from what he called the “retinal” (there to please the eye) to the “intellectual” (“in the service of the mind.”). By doing so, Duchamp subverted the traditional notion that beauty is a defining characteristic of art. Bicycle Wheel is the third version of this work. The first, now lost, was made in 1913, almost forty years earlier. Because the materials Duchamp selected to be Readymades were mass-produced, he did not consider any Readymade to be “original.” Marcel Duchamp. Bicycle Wheel. New York, 1951 (third version, after lost original of 1913). Metal wheel mounted on painted wood stool, 51 x 25 x 16 1/2" (129.5 x 63.5 x 41.9 cm). The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Estate of Marcel Duchamp Marcel Duchamp. Bicycle Wheel. New York, 1951 (third version, after lost original of 1913). MoMA Dada Theme

Share this information with your students: In Advance of a Broken Arm presumes that the viewer knows clearing snow with a shovel can prevent a fall that might result in a broken arm. The playfulness of Duchamp’s title is a hallmark of conceptual art, a movement he is considered to have pioneered. Marcel Duchamp. In Advance of the Broken Arm. August 1964 (fourth version, after lost original of November 1915). Wood and galvanized-iron snow shovel, 52" (132 cm) high. Gift of The Jerry and Emily Spiegel Family Foundation. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Estate of Marcel Duchamp Marcel Duchamp. In Advance of the Broken Arm. August 1964 (fourth version, after lost original of November 1915). MoMA Dada Theme

Marcel Duchamp. Fresh Widow. 1920. Share this information with your students: Constructed by a carpenter in accordance with Duchamp's instructions, Fresh Widow is a reduced scale version of the standard double-door French window. Duchamp was fascinated by themes of sight and perception; here, the expectation of a view is thwarted by black leather pieces, which Duchamp insisted “be shined everyday like shoes.”   Puns and wordplay were also central within Duchamp’s work. With the change of three letters, Duchamp transforms the inanimate "French window" into the title "Fresh Widow," a punning reference to the recently-made widows of World War I fighters. An inscription at the base reads "COPYRIGHT ROSE SELAVY 1920," making it the first work to be signed by Duchamp’s female alter ego Rose Sélavy (later spelled Rrose). Marcel Duchamp. Fresh Widow. 1920. Miniature French window, painted wood frame, and panes of glass covered with black leather, 30 1/2 x 17 5/8" (77.5 x 44.8 cm), on wood sill 3/4 x 21 x 4" (1.9 x 53.4 x 10.2 cm). Katherine S. Dreier Bequest. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Estate of Marcel Duchamp Marcel Duchamp. Fresh Widow. 1920. MoMA Dada Theme

Marcel Duchamp. 3 Standard Stoppages. 1913–14. Share this information with your students: Read this note aloud, which describes the parameters by which Duchamp created this work: "If a straight horizontal thread one meter long falls from a height of one meter onto a horizontal plane twisting as it pleases [it] creates a new image of the unit of length." Duchamp dropped three one-meter long threads from the height of one meter onto three stretched canvases. The threads were then adhered to the canvases, preserving the random curves they assumed upon landing. Cut along the threads' profiles, the canvases served as templates for three draftsman’s straightedges—wood tools that retain the length of the meter but paradoxically “standardize” the accidental curve. Marcel Duchamp. 3 Standard Stoppages. 1913–14. Wood box 11 1/8 x 50 7/8 x 9" (28.2 x 129.2 x 22.7 cm), with three threads 39 3/8" (100 cm), glued to three painted canvas strips 5 1/4 x 47 1/4" (13.3 x 120 cm), each mounted on a glass panel 7 1/4 x 49 3/8 x 1/4" (18.4 x 125.4 x 0.6 cm), three wood slats 2 1/2 x 43 x 1/8" (6.2 x 109.2 x 0.2 cm), shaped along one edge to match the curves of the threads. Katherine S. Dreier Bequest. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Estate of Marcel Duchamp Marcel Duchamp. 3 Standard Stoppages. 1913–14. MoMA Dada Theme