By DARLA MCCAMMON

Lakeland Art Association

The Large Glass

WARSAW — He called them “readymades” but most of us would call them toilet bowls, snow shovels, bicycle wheels or urinals. Our artist this week led a life in which he tried to expand what he saw as the constraints of traditional art.

“My idea,” he explained, “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.”  His art was often shocking, always unique and usually irreverent.  In 1919 Marcel Duchamp infuriated many when he took a cheap print of the Mona Lisa and adorned her face with a mustache and goatee. He added a bawdy inscription that added fuel to the fire, but did gain him the notoriety he was likely seeking.

Duchamp was born in France and grew up in a family of sculptors, painters and artists. His family played chess, enjoyed the arts, and loved music and literature.  He and his siblings were well educated by his wealthy and artistic family.  Duchamp read a novel in 1910 which caused him to change his approach to art and inspired him to work on a non-painterly piece called “The Large Glass.”  A trip through mountains with friends also contributed to his work on this piece which was not completed until 1913.  His view of art continued to evolve and he was quoted as saying, “Painting is washed up.”

At one point in his life he began working to earn a wage on scholarly pursuits but did return to his art pursuits including “Bottle Rack” in 1914, “Prelude to a Broken Arm (1915), “Advance of the Broken Arm” (a snow shovel), and in 1917 he shocked the world with “Fountain” which was nothing more than a urinal signed with one of the many pseudonyms he used during his life, “R.Mutt.”  He described his art as pieces serving the mind rather than, “retinal art” as he disparagingly referred to work of artists like Henri Matisse, one of the world’s most famous artists.

Duchamp’s personal life was also beyond the pale.  He had two wives and multiple mistresses. It was widely believed he married the first wife for her monied connections. Later in life he would seldom do anything artistic as he became enthralled with his childhood game of chess.  He entered many competitions but when he recognized he would never achieve the pinnacle of being the best chess player in the world he switched to writing articles for newspapers and magazines about chess.  During his “chess” period it was said he did not produce art.  It was later discovered he secretly continued to make pieces that were unveiled after his death.

In 1955 Duchamp became an American Citizen and influenced our American Art scene with his advice to famous art collectors such as the Guggenheims.  Duchamp died in his beloved France in 1968.  He left behind this quote about creativity: “The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.”

Upcoming and Current Events: 

• Paul Ramain exhibit at Warsaw City Hall. Open daily 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free Admission.
• Art Program coming up Friday Nov. 10 at our local Rotary Organization. Guest speakers will be Melodie Koher and myself. Find a Rotary member to bring you as a guest! Come and find out some things you never knew about art and at the same time learn about this terrific service organization!

For more information on topics in this column, please contact Darla McCammon at [email protected] or (574) 527-4044. Older columns are available at www.darlamc.com