Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp is considered as one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century by the modern art world. Duchamp, who participated in artistic movements from Fauvism to Surrealism, was an innovator and a revolutionary within the art world. Duchamp, being a founding force in the Dada movement, was also a main influencing factor of the development of the 20th Century avant-garde art. All in all Duchamp has become a legend within the art world. Marcel Duchamp was born on July 28,1887 in Blainville France. Being the brother of two prominent artists, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Jacques Villon, it seemed only natural that the young Marcel Duchamp would participate in the arts. ... ” In 1907, at age 17, Duchamp resolved to become an artist. Marcel Duchamp had the great fortune of entering the world of art at a most exciting time when the birth of Fauvism and Cubism was in the not so distant future. Although Marcel incorporated these styles he was never satisfied with any single style. ... Duchamp’s view of the lack of creativity and originality may have prompted many of his later creations which, at the time of their production, seemed absurd. Throughout Marcel Duchamp’s career he dabbled in a wide variety of styles ranging from Fauvism to Cubism, all the way to the art of Ready-mades. ... Duchamp’s only formal training came at the Academie Julian in Paris from where he dropped out after only eighteen months to pursue his own interests. This seems to be a defining characteristic of Marcel Duchamp’s career, he did things that suited him, not what others felt was the correct thing to do. Marcel Duchamp’s artistic output began with portraits of people close to him such as family members and close friends. At this time Duchamp was experimenting with Fauvism, the art of the “wild beasts”. ... This is the reason one might see portraits made by Duchamp from around 1910 in which people are represented with greenish skin or blue hair. Throughout Duchamp’s career it was not as important to be totally accurate as it was to get a creative point or theme across. ... This is a main reason why many artists, one of them being Duchamp, turned their artistic focus the avant-garde. ... The possibilities of manipulation of the shapes to Duchamp’s own interests benefited him immensely. Duchamp prospered as he turned away from the conservative Fauvism moving towards the avant-garde and experimentation within the cubist mode of art. ... Duchamp believed that art should be left up to the mind rather than the eyes, just as in chess. ... Duchamp was a pioneer in Cubism by the way he showed movement in his paintings. ... In this work Duchamp uses four or five overlapping profiles moving from left to right across the canvas. The colors were dark symbolizing Duchamp’s mood at the time. ... In another attempt at movement in Cubism, Duchamp created a painting known as Nude Descending A Staircase No. ... 2, Duchamp further developed and refined the movement of the piece through the use of swirling lines and arced dots. When the painting was introduced in Europe the Puteaux Cubists reac ted violently which ended Marcel’s affiliation with the group. ... After Duchamp completed his painting of Nude Descending A Staircase No. ... The effects of two of Duchamp’s paintings at this time, Virgin and later in Passage From the Virgin to the Bride, he ventured into uncharted artistic territory with the use of Cubist techniques but the effect was not cubist at all. ... Duchamp had created a new form of art but, as he tended to do, he abandoned the form in favor of letting others develop his ideas. This virtually closed Marcel Duchamp’s career as a painter. In 1915, at age 25, Duchamp moved to New York taking him out of the world of conventional painting.