A catalog documenting an exhibition of Marcel Duchamp’s editioned readymades at Gagosian Gallery, New York, replicating his American debut at Cordier & Ekstrom in the same building in 1965 and including new essays. Marcel Duchamp’s first readymade, a standard bicycle wheel attached to a wooden stool, came about “as a pleasure, something to have in my room the way you have a fire, or a pencil sharpener, except that there was no usefulness.” Over the ensuing decades many of his readymades were lost or destroyed, but in 1964 Duchamp, working with acclaimed gallerist Arturo Schwarz, supplanted the original readymades with fourteen precisely executed editioned multiples, a process which culminated in an exhibition in New York in 1965. 

Adina Kamien-Kazhdan chronicles this process in a new essay that provides significant insight into Duchamp and Schwarz’s relationship, as well as detailing the creation of the editions. Calvin Tomkins’ new profile of Duchamp prefaces this beautiful book and is a welcome addition, serving as the perfect introduction to the black-and-white installation shots from the 1965 show and the full-page color photographs of each readymade.

About the Author:

Calvin Tomkins is an author and art critic for The New Yorker magazine. He is the author of The Bride and the Bachelors, which traces Duchamp’s legacy through profiles and the artist and his contemporaries. Dr. Adina Kamien-Kazhdan is the David Rockefeller Curator at the Stella Fischbach Department of Modern Art, part of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Readymade Man. Changing the course of 20th-century art

When is a urinal no longer a urinal? When Marcel Duchamp declared it to be art. From his infamous Fountain to reworked Mona Lisa with mustache and beard, this essential introduction to Duchamp surveys his audacious practice of “readymades” and beyond and its critical place in 20th-century art.

When is a urinal no longer a urinal? When Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) declared it to be art. The uproar that greeted the French artist’s Fountain (1917), a porcelain urinal installed in a gallery, sent shock waves through the art world establishment that reverberate right through to today.

This essential introduction distills all the daring and the scandal of Duchamp’s practice into one essential overview not only of a pioneering creative but also of a critical moment in Western culture. From his groundbreaking blend of abstraction, Cubism, and Futurism in Nude Descending a Staircase (1912) to his forays into the now-iconic “readymades” such as Bicycle Wheel (1913) and Bottle Rack (1914) we explore how Duchamp consistently challenged the notion of what art is and, in so doing, opened up a world of conceptual possibilities beyond the “retinal” experience.

The author:

Janis Mink studied art history at Smith College and gained her doctorate in Hamburg under Martin Warnke. She is presently a writer and curator.

About the series:

Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. 

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:
- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

An enigma to art historians and a great source of inspiration to other artists

Someone else may have invented the wheel, but Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) invented the ready-made. A bottle dryer may be a bottle dryer, but signed by Duchamp it is also one of the major works of 20th century art.

Duchamp has been an enigma to art historians and a great source of inspiration to other artists. This study addresses the myth and reveals the compelling charisma of Marcel Duchamp.

About the Series:

• Each book in TASCHEN’s  Basic Art Series features:
• a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
• a concise biography
• approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:
Janis Mink studied art history at Smith College and gained her doctorate in Hamburg under Martin Warnke. She is presently a writer and curator.

Посмотреть издание книги Duchamp в твердом переплете.

Readymade man. The anticonformist visionary

Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), revolutionary artist, inventor of readymades, obsessive chess player, and master of the silent statement succeeded at the beginning of the 20th century to query art in its traditional form. His creations, not least his readymades such as the famous Fountain (a "reclaimed" urinal) or the Bottle Rack, are subversive and radical upshots of a critical confrontation with the production and marketing of art in the industrial age. While the young Duchamp still admired Monet, Fauvism, and Cubism, and for a while was quite closely aligned with the Dadaists and Surrealists, before long his work broke new ground and helped redefine art as we know it today.

The fact that Duchamp wanted to ensure that the self-irony and doubt, particularly in his own works, were constructively understood is best shown in one of his few statements on the subject: “I force myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.” Duchamp has long been an enigma to art historians while a great source of inspiration to other artists. This study addresses the myth and the reality, revealing a compelling portrait of Marcel Duchamp, the man and the artist.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art Series features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:

Janis Mink studied art history at Smith College and gained her doctorate in Hamburg under Martin Warnke. She is presently a writer and curator.

Посмотреть издание книги Duchamp в мягкой обложке.