Marcel Duchamp was an amazingly multifaceted person - for many years he played chess professionally and at the same time managed to become famous as an avant-garde artist. Today he is considered one of the most influential and original innovators in the art of the twentieth century.
Early creativity
Marel Duchamp was born in July 1887 in Normandy into a large family of a notary. In 1904, he moved from the provinces to Paris with the aim of getting an art education at the Académie Julian, but a year later he dropped out of this educational institution and went into "free swimming".
In the early period of his work, Duchamp was clearly influenced by such masters as Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse. He created pictures that were bold in color solutions, but still did not go beyond the framework of traditional trends.
Then Duchamp as an artist began to drift towards Cubism. In 1912, he created a canvas with the beautiful title "Nude Descending a Staircase." The author himself explained that he wanted to show the movement in this work using static means. In fact, he combined several images of the same abstract female figure on a two-dimensional plane. At first, the painting seemed controversial to many - even the cubist artists did not accept it. But now this work is considered a classic of modernist art.
Duchamp readymade
In 1913, 25-year-old Duchamp realized that easel painting was no longer interesting to him, and put forward the concept of "ready-made" ("finished products"). According to Marcel Duchamp, any banal object that the artist chose among many others, signed and put on public display, can be considered a work of art. The essence of this concept is perfectly expressed, for example, by such works by Duchamp as "Bicycle Wheel" (created in 1913) and "Dryer for bottles" (1914)
In 1915, the artist, who was not taken to the First World Army fighting on the fronts for medical reasons, emigrated to the United States (since then he lived alternately in the States, then in France). At one of the American art exhibitions in 1917, Duchamp presented his famous readymade "Fountain". In fact, it was just a 180-degree rotated urinal with the date and the signature “R. Mutt "(this is, of course, a fictitious surname).
With such works, Duchamp challenged not only the traditional formats of art, but art in general as such. On the other hand, it made it possible to look at familiar, utilitarian things from a completely unexpected angle.
L. H. O. O. Q., "Big Glass" and "Anemic Cinema"
In 1919, Duchamp created a piece called L. H. O. O. Q. Strictly speaking, he simply took a reproduction of the Mona Lisa and drew a neat mustache and beard on the girl. Later the artist made 38 more versions of L. H. O. O. Q. in different sizes and styles.
From 1915 to 1923, Duchamp worked on his most ambitious creation - "Bride, undressed by her bachelors, one in two faces" (another common name is "Big Glass"). This composition is based on two identical glass plates, mounted one on top of the other and separated by an aluminum frame. The bottom plate depicts "nine bachelors". Their silhouettes resemble clothespins, and they are all associated with a strange mechanical apparatus on the right. As for the upper plate, it is at the mercy of the "bride". This "bride" is an asymmetrical structure consisting of rods, cylinders, wires and drilled squares. The overall size of the "Big Glass" is 272 by 176 centimeters.
In the twenties, Marcel Duchamp often participated in public actions of the Dadaists and Surrealists, published in their magazines and almanacs.
The innovative artist was noted at this time and in the avant-garde cinema. In 1924, he starred in the silent short film Intermission, directed by René Clair. Two years later, in 1926, Duchamp, together with another avant-garde artist Man Rey, created the amazing film Anemic Cinema. This film shows mainly geometric objects and chess combinations. In the credits, Rosa Selyavi is indicated as one of the authors - this is Duchamp's most famous pseudonym.
The artist's life after 1926
In 1927, Duchamp, who was then about forty, married for the first time - to 24-year-old Lydia Sazaren-Levassor (Duchamp was introduced to her by friends). However, they did not stay together for long - only six months. The problem was that Marcel paid very little attention to his wife, preferring to spend leisure hours at the chessboard or in his studio.
In 1934, the artist collected his scattered notes on art theory and published them under the general title "Green Box". After that, Duchamp concentrated on his favorite chess and almost ceased to engage in artistic creativity. This, however, did not prevent him from remaining a respected figure among European and American avant-garde artists.
In 1954, Marcel Duchamp married Alexine Sattler, whom he met in the United States. Aleksina, unlike the artist's first wife, was well versed in art and shared her husband's hobby for chess. Ultimately, Marcel and Aleksina lived together for about fourteen years.
The avant-garde artist Duchamp died in France in the commune of Neuilly-sur-Seine on October 1, 1968.
