Marcel_Duchamp

The French born Marcel Duchamp is considered to be a major twentieth-century artist by many art historians. He worked in both Europe and the USA and is an important figure in the world of art. Duchamp was part of the cubism movement, where artists looked for new ways to represent reality by using techniques such as multiple view points and fragmenting forms. Cubism lasted from 1907-1925. His oil on canvas painting “Portrait of Chess Players” is an example of a cubist painting and it was shown at an exhibition for Cubist artwork in 1912. Later on in 1917 Duchamp created the work, “Fountain”. This is example of the Dada art movement, in which Duchamp played an active role in. “Fountain” is a men’s urinal with the initials “R. Mutt” written on it. This work caused quite a stir in the art world at the time. Duchamp submitted his work to the Society of Independent Artists Exhibition in New York under the pseudonym Mr R. Mutt. The exhibition refused to display it. Duchamp retorted and said that Mr. R. Mutt “took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared” and that he “created a new thought for that object”, for this reason he believed it to be art. Marcel Duchamp is an important figure in the history of art. He contributed to the cubism movement with his painting “Portrait of Chess Players” and the Dada movement taking everyday objects and giving them another meaning or no meaning at all, with the controversial work “Fountain”.