Marcel Duchamp

“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.” ~Marcel Duchamp

I am quite fond of the above quote by the artist Marcel Duchamp as I think it does a wonderful job at illustrating an important point about art.  To Duchamp art is more than just the product of the artist, but instead is the way in which that product’s existence interacts with an audience beyond just the creative expression of the artist.  I have long held a very similar belief, that, when considering artistic expression of any kind, one needs to look at more than just the creator or the creation but must try to see how both of those elements work with the greater realm of social and cultural significance.

I am very fond of Marcel Duchamp and his artwork.  Junior year in college I was in Poetry Workshop and we read a poem by X. J. Kennedy that had been influenced by Duchamp’s famous painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.  My professor in the workshop had an image of the painting projected from the Internet on the classroom screen (the same day in class we also read a poem by Joyce Carol Oates in tribute to Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks).  Duchamp’s abstract image of a woman walking down a flight of stairs captivated me immediately.  I am not sure why, but I found it to be a very beautiful piece of art.  A year later Mad, my friend Nate, and I went to Philadelphia for a long weekend and decided to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  I did not know it when I first entered the museum but discovered awhile later to my sheer delight that they had Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 on display.  When I saw it I think I probably just stood captivated for about ten or fifteen minutes studying the piece.  It really amazes me how powerful an experience viewing a famous piece of art can be.  I had seen images of Duchamp’s painting before but at that moment I was actually looking at the real thing.  The painting is quite large, almost five feet tall, and I think I must have slowly inched closer as I was looking at it, because soon I found myself examining the very brushwork that had gone into the piece.  To date I think that the surprise of finding Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 has to have been one of my most profound experiences with a single work of art.  I remember as soon as I got back to school sending a lengthy e-mail to my professor from Poetry Workshop telling her how I had seen the painting and remembered the poem about it we had read in class.  I should also mention that the Philadelphia Museum of Art has quite an admirable collection of Duchamp’s works and I enjoyed getting to see some of them for the first time.   If you have not ever seen any of Duchamp’s paintings I recommend that you check them out as they are all quite good.

~Nathaniel

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Tags: art, artist, audience, Marcel Duchamp. painting, poetry

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