Marcel Duchamp In Perspective [Paperback]

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 fromArtforum, written by Jasper Johns; Octavio Paz on the ready-mades; a Duchamp post-mortem by Hans Richter; Donald Judd's investigation of Rrose Sélavy; 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.

Joseph Masheckhas served as editor-in-chief ofArtforum, contributing editor ofArt in America, and as a professor of art history at Barnard, Harvard, and Hofstra. An artist himself, and the author of many books (among themVan Gogh 100,Building-Art, andModernities), he lives in New York City.