Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Hardcover)

by Francis M. Naumann (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
With so many recent books on the artist, including a nearly definitive biography (Duchamp, LJ 12/96) and a newly revised catalogue raisonn (The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp, LJ 9/15/97), one may question the need for a volume ostensibly focusing on the collection of Belgium gallerist Ronny van de Velde. But this contribution by renowned Dada scholar Naumann brings a fresh focus on Duchamp's interests in reproduction and appropriation and is thus a welcome addition. In highly readable prose, Naumann recounts the artist's career in chronological chapters, emphasizing both his early use of printing techniques to undermine deliberately his own career in painting and his later readymades and variant reproductions. Throughout, Naumann clearly shows how Duchamp harnessed mechanical reproduction paradoxically in the service of his constant striving not to repeat himself. Meticulously laid out and adorned with 440 illustrations (200 in color) of objects in van de Velde's collection and other seminal works, the book can serve equally the newcomer and the devotee. Highly recommended.
-Douglas McClemont, New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher
"Cuts clearly through the complicated tangle of Duchamp's many multiples. New Yorker writer Calvin Tomkins Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was arguably the most radical artist of the 20th century. He stopped painting in 1918 and spent much of the next 50 years exploring alternatives to traditional artistic practices. This dynamic, richly illustrated study explains how appropriation and replication were central to Duchamp's art-and examines the significance of the many replicas that Duchamp created or authorized. From The Nude Descending a Staircase and The Large Glass to a 1960s re-creation of the Ready mades, Francis Naumann shows how Duchamp embraced all aspects of mechanical reproduction to short-circuit the clichs of a conventional artistic career-and highlight the cerebral qualities of his work. For all those interested in Duchamp and his enormous influence on modern art, this book is required reading. 440 illustrations, 200 in full color, 9 x 1211/8 " Francis M. Naumann is an independent art historian specializing in the Dada and Surrealist periods. He is the author of numerous books, including Abrams' New York Dada 1915-1923, and has curated several exhibitions, including the award-winning 1996-97 "Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York" at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and "Beatrice Wood: A Centennial Tribute" at the American Craft Museum, also in New York. Naumann lives with his family in Yorktown Heights, New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 331 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 1st edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810963345
• ISBN-13: 978-0810963344
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,099,810 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #25 in

  Books > Arts & Photography > Artists, A-Z > ( D-F ) > Duchamp, Marcel

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humor, Wit, and Genius, April 9, 2001

By A Customer

Bicycle wheel on stool. A urinal. A bottle rack. A comb. A mustached Mona Lisa. And other sordid odds and ends. Though his "Readymades" continue to shock the public as monstrosities to the art world, very few know the story behind the wit and audacity that is Marcel Duchamp. In this exhaustive album of Duchamp's oeuvre, Naumann gives compassion to "Duchamp's things," objects crucified by indifference and imperception, through his stunning layout of text and colored figures; the book itself is truly an aesthetic masterpiece. Albeit an art historian, Naumann does not digress into meditations on esoterica. Rather, he examines Duchamp's letters, interviews, speeches, notes, writings, and other primary source evidence to construct an enlightening and entertaining interpretation for each and every one of Duchamp's masterpieces. Exploring the philosophical questions at play in each work, Naumann explains to us Duhcamp's ideal of art and answers convincingly why the artist provocateur felt the need to abandon the jurisdiction of Taste and Aesthetics. For anyone brave enough to be enlightened about the complexity of a urinal or the phonetic pun behind L.H.O.O.Q (the mustached Mona Lisa), I urge you not to only read this book but to perceive it in its entirety.