Talking Art – Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp (1887 – 1968) was a French American artist, chess player, and inventor who played a key role in the development of the avant-garde in the United States and in New York City, where he spent the last 25 years of his life.

One of four artist siblings Duchamp was the first artist to elevate manufactured articles to the status of an art form, which he labelled “Readymades.” His major work, The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even, commonly known as the Large Glass, combined unconventional materials such as glass, metal, silver, glue and dust into an unprecedented artwork which, along with chance and the accidental changed the concept of what could be considered art.

Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso and George Braque, as one of the three artists who helped to establish the direction of art in the post-industrial twentieth century, and is considered the progenitor of conceptual art.

Contact Robert Sedgley on talking.art@u3ajavea.com