The Dada Artist
Family Born in July 28 th 1887 in France. Duchamp was the son of a notary and had two younger brothers. They where all heavily influenced in art. His youngest brother Jacques Villon became a painter. His other brother Raymond Duchamp-Villon became a Cubist sculptor.
Education Duchamp studied at the Lycée Pierre- Corneille in Rouen. He made 2 friends Robert Antoine Pinchon and Pierre Dumont who both also became well known artists. His best subject was maths where he won 2 prizes and he also won a prize in drawing. At his commencement in 1904 he won a converted first prize validating his recent decision to become an artist.
Education He then went to study at the Academy Julian from 1904 to 1905. He preferred playing billiards than attending lessons and during his time there he drew and sold cartoons. The cartoons used verbal puns, visual puns and sometimes both. He learned typography and the printing process while working for a printer in 1905. After WW1 he became a successful painter in Paris.
What is Dada Dada was a reaction to World War 1 and was a movement that questioned assumptions about what art should be and how it should be made. Dada was the first conceptual movement where the focus of the artists was not making something aesthetically pleasing but created difficult questions about society, the role of the artist and the art.
Duchamp and Dada Duchamp was a pioneer of Dada. In the years immediately preceding World War I, Duchamp found success as a painter in Paris. But he soon gave up painting almost entirely and started creating Readymade pieces. Most of his early pieces were discarded or lost but years later he commissioned reproductions of many of them.
Readymade Duchamp created the term readymade for everyday objects which sometimes were slightly altered which were considered artworks by the artist. Readymade questioned what can be considered art. Duchamp submitted some of his Readymade pieces to art shows but some were rejected or unnoticed.
Bicycle Wheel Created in 1913 He created this piece it for fun just so he could occasionally spin it. It was later considered a Readymade piece and is said to be the first kinetic sculpture. The original was destroyed so replicas were made.
Bottle Rack Created in 1914 The Bottle Rack was bought at a department store. The original Bottle Rack was mistaken for rubbish and was thrown away by Duchamp's sister. There are replicas in prominent museums.
Prelude to a Broken Arm Created in 1915 The original was hung from a wire in a studio but has been lost. It is believed that the original was mistaken for an ordinary shovel and was taken to move snow off the pavements.
Fresh Window Created in 1920 Duchamp had a carpenter in New York make a miniature replica of a standard French style window. To prevent the viewer seeing through the glass he covered each pane with a square of black leather.
Fountain Created in 1917 One of his best known pieces is a urinal, titled Fountain and signed R. Mutt. It was submitted to an exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York in 1917. The original was destroyed so replicas were made.
L.H.O.O.Q Created in 1919 This was a cheap postcard of Leonardo da Vinci s Mona Lisa which Duchamp drew a beard and moustache onto using pencil.
The Activity Deface the Mona Lisa's portrait in any way you want, use Duchamp's as inspiration. Print out a portrait of a person of your choice and then deface it, use Duchamp as inspiration. Show your work to the class and explain what you have done to deface the portraits.