Marcel Duchamp

by Joan M. Rehlin
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (7/28/1887–10/2/1968) is considered, along with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, as one of the three artists who defined the early 20th-century revolutionary developments in the plastic arts. His artistic work is associated with Cubism and conceptual art, and he was responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture. Duchamp eventually rejected the work of many of his contemporary artists, including Matisse, as art that was intended only to please the eye. Instead, he wanted art to benefit the mind. 

Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (shown here) uses color and abstract elements to convey the rhythmic movement of a nude. In 1912, this work was labeled by the Cubists as being too futuristic, but eventually became regarded as one of the most famous Modernist classics of its time, and currently resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Duchamp, who was born and died in France, became an American citizen in 1955, and he advised collectors of Modern art, which shaped the tastes of Western art and challenged conventional thought about artistic processes. Although he painted few canvases after 1912, Duchamp is considered by many critics to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century.  

​Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, oil on canvas, 1912, Marcel Duchamp