Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 1912 Duchamp's first work to provoke significant controversy The painting depicts the mechanistic motion of a nude He later submitted the painting to the 1913 "Armory Show" in New York City. …the first major exhibition of modern trends coming out of Paris …American show-goers, accustomed to realistic art, were scandalized, and the Nude was at the center of much of the controversy. In 1913, Duchamp withdrew from painting circles and began working as a librarian …to earn a living wage while concentrating on scholarly realms …He studied math and physics – areas in which exciting new discoveries were taking place. "Painting is washed up. Who will ever do anything better than that propeller? Tell me, can you do that?“ Duchamp, 1912

The theoretical writings of Henri Poincaré inspired Duchamp The theoretical writings of Henri Poincaré inspired Duchamp. Poincaré thought that the laws believed to govern matter were created solely by the minds that "understood" them and that no theory could be considered "true“, (1902). Reflecting the influence of Poincaré's writings, Duchamp tolerated any interpretation of his art by regarding it as the creation of the person who formulated it, not as truth. In his studio he mounted a bicycle wheel upside down onto a stool, spinning it occasionally just to watch it. Although it is often assumed that the Bicycle Wheel represents the first of Duchamp's "Readymades", this particular installation was never submitted for any art exhibition, and it was eventually lost. However, initially, the wheel was simply placed in the studio to create atmosphere: "I enjoyed looking at it just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a fireplace." Duchamp and his wheel

After World War I was declared in 1914, with his brothers and many friends in military service and himself exempted, Duchamp felt uncomfortable in Paris. Meanwhile, Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 had scandalized Americans at the Armory Show, and helped secure the sale of all four of his paintings in the exhibition. Duchamp emigrated to the US in 1915. To his surprise, he found he was a celebrity when he arrived in New York in 1915.

Dada or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. It began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916, spreading to Berlin shortly thereafter. “Dada was born out of negative reaction to the horrors of World War I. This international movement was begun by a group of artists and poets … Dada rejected reason and logic, prizing nonsense, irrationality and intuition. The origin of the name Dada is unclear; some believe that it is a nonsensical word. Others maintain that it originates from the Romanian artists Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco's frequent use of the words da, da, meaning yes, yes in the Romanian language. Another theory says that the name "Dada" came during a meeting of the group when a paper knife stuck into a French-German dictionary happened to point to 'dada', a French word for 'hobbyhorse'.” Dona Budd's The Language of Art Knowledge MAN RAY (1890-1976) 'Cadeau (Gift)' 1921 (Flat Iron with Brass Tacks)

HANNAH HÖCH (1889-1978) 'Incision With The Dada Kitchen Knife Through Germany's Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch' 1920 (Collage) The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature, poetry, art manifestoes, art theory, theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. In addition to being anti-war, Dada was also anti-bourgeois and had political affinities with the radical left.

Dada is the groundwork to abstract art and sound poetry, a starting point for performance art, a prelude to postmodernism, an influence on pop art, a celebration of antiart to be later embraced for anarcho-political uses in the 1960s and the movement that lay the foundation for Surrealism.

"Readymades" were found objects which Duchamp chose and presented as art. The idea was to question the very notion of Art, and the adoration of art, which Duchamp found "unnecessary“ My idea was to choose an object that wouldn't attract me, either by its beauty or by its ugliness. To find a point of indifference in my looking at it, you see. Bottle Rack (1914), a bottle drying rack signed by Duchamp, is considered to be the first "pure" readymade. Prelude to a Broken Arm (1915), a snow shovel, also called In Advance of the Broken Arm, followed soon after. His Fountain, a urinal signed with the pseudonym "R. Mutt", shocked the art world in 1917. Fountain was selected in 2004 as "the most influential artwork of the 20th century" by 500 renowned artists and historians. Fountain 1917