From Library Journal
With so many recent books on the artist, including a nearly definitive biography (Duchamp, LJ 12/96) and a newly revised catalogue raisonn (The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp, LJ 9/15/97), one may question the need for a volume ostensibly focusing on the collection of Belgium gallerist Ronny van de Velde. But this contribution by renowned Dada scholar Naumann brings a fresh focus on Duchamp's interests in reproduction and appropriation and is thus a welcome addition. In highly readable prose, Naumann recounts the artist's career in chronological chapters, emphasizing both his early use of printing techniques to undermine deliberately his own career in painting and his later readymades and variant reproductions. Throughout, Naumann clearly shows how Duchamp harnessed mechanical reproduction paradoxically in the service of his constant striving not to repeat himself. Meticulously laid out and adorned with 440 illustrations (200 in color) of objects in van de Velde's collection and other seminal works, the book can serve equally the newcomer and the devotee. Highly recommended.-Douglas McClemont, New York Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Publisher
"Cuts clearly through the complicated tangle of Duchamp's many multiples. New Yorker writer Calvin Tomkins Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was arguably the most radical artist of the 20th century. He stopped painting in 1918 and spent much of the next 50 years exploring alternatives to traditional artistic practices. This dynamic, richly illustrated study explains how appropriation and replication were central to Duchamp's art-and examines the significance of the many replicas that Duchamp created or authorized. From The Nude Descending a Staircase and The Large Glass to a 1960s re-creation of the Ready mades, Francis Naumann shows how Duchamp embraced all aspects of mechanical reproduction to short-circuit the clichs of a conventional artistic career-and highlight the cerebral qualities of his work. For all those interested in Duchamp and his enormous influence on modern art, this book is required reading. 440 illustrations, 200 in full color, 9 x 1211/8 " Francis M. Naumann is an independent art historian specializing in the Dada and Surrealist periods. He is the author of numerous books, including Abrams' New York Dada 1915-1923, and has curated several exhibitions, including the award-winning 1996-97 "Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York" at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and "Beatrice Wood: A Centennial Tribute" at the American Craft Museum, also in New York. Naumann lives with his family in Yorktown Heights, New York.
Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
This volume traces the course of Duchamp's life as an artist by concentrating on the elements of replication and appropriation that form a unifying factor in his creative output and establish his great contribution to the art of the 20th century. In revealing Duchamp's inventiveness as a graphic designer, his wit in appropriating readymade objects as works of art, and his ability to create unique masterpieces out of reproductions made from his earlier work, Dada scholar Naumann shows how Duchamp was a true original whose influence exceeds that of his more prolific contemporaries, as well as how he explored alternatives to traditional artistic practice even after making the decision to stop painting altogether. Contains 440 illustrations, including 200 color plates. Oversize: 9.50x12. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Art & Photography
Book Info
