Marcel Duchamp In Perspective

Writings on one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, by some of its most celebrated writers and artists: Jasper Johns, Octavio Paz, John Cage, and more

Best known for cheeky conceptual works--like his signed urinals ("R. Mutt") and his graffitioed Mona Lisa--Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was also an extraordinary painter and sculptor (Nude Descending a Staircase) who changed the language of twentieth-century art and reigns with Picasso and Matisse as one of its greatest influences. Joseph Masheck has compiled a sampler of the best writing on Duchamp, with pieces that include Duchamp''s obituary from Artforum, written by Jasper Johns; Octavio Paz on the ready-mades; a Duchamp post-mortem by Hans Richter; Donald Judd''s investigation of Rrose Sévy; a "Counter-Avant-Garde" by Clement Greenberg; a consideration by Guillaume Apollinaire; and John Cage''s "26 Statements on Marcel Duchamp." Illustrated with photographs of Duchamp''s seminal pieces, and updated with a substantial preface that offers new scholarship as well as a fascinating consideration of why Duchamp''s popularity has exponentially increased since this book first appeared, this is an essential volume for the Duchamp devotee.