Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1525334 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Synopsis
Taking a refreshingly objective look at Duchamp's real contribution to modern art, this gorgeous hardbound volume explores everything from his myriad personal relations to his creation of major works, his passion for chess and his presumed abandonment of painting. It also moves beyond Duchamp's diffident mask to explore the passions and insecurities that motivated his artistic and personal evolutions, separating the artist from the con artist, to determine how profound an influence he has HAD. Based on numerous unpublished sources and first-hand interviews, MARCEL DUCHAMP: THE BACHELOR STRIPPED BARE stands as a groundbreaking contribution to the ever-burgeoning field of Duchamp studies.

Customer Reviews

'Less than the sum of its parts'
I read the first version of this book some years ago and was intrigued by the opportunity to read a revised version. However it remains a disappointment. It is a peculiar mix of impressive research (although somewhat unfocused - particularly at the start of the book) and unsustainable assertions. It is less of a hagiography than the other popular Duchamp biography available - but is infected even more by an authorial arrogance that at times gets unintentionally very funny. For example, Duchamp's compensation portrait in the catalogue of the 'First Papers of Surrealism' show is, according to the author, 'supposedly'(!) by Ben Shahn...(It IS by Ben Shahn). And the author repeats the basic error of her previous version of the book in that she doesn't seem to realise that there is an abandoned painting of a nude on the verso of 'Apropo Little Sister' to which Duchamp's scatological exclamation refers. This is presented as a insight previously overlooked by scholars - but is merely a sloppy misinterpretation.

There is also a constant shift of focus throughout (which may be an attempt at painting a 'well rounded' portrait of her subject. But the actual result is as though the author has problems keeping her subject in sight. I found the latter parts of the book the most rewarding and well written - for example, the stuff about Duchamp's finances goes some way to explain the mystery of how he survived when the legacy from his father had run its course.

I would recommend this book - just - but, as a whole, it doesn't make a satisfying read. Perhaps the truly great Duchamp biography will never be written.