- MoMA, Floor 6 The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions
“Why is this art?” is a question often asked by viewers of contemporary art. It is virtually impossible to answer it without referring to the work of Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). Over a six-decade career, Duchamp challenged the very definition of the artwork, ushering in a new era of creative license—the reverberations of which are still felt today. While resistant to “-isms,” Duchamp had a hand in modern art movements ranging from Cubism to Surrealism to Pop. His pursuits were marked by continuous reinvention…
- MoMA, Floor 6 The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions
“Why is this art?” is a question often asked by viewers of contemporary art. It is virtually impossible to answer it without referring to the work of Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). Over a six-decade career, Duchamp challenged the very definition of the artwork, ushering in a new era of creative license—the reverberations of which are still felt today. While resistant to “-isms,” Duchamp had a hand in modern art movements ranging from Cubism to Surrealism to Pop. His pursuits were marked by continuous reinvention and deliberate inconsistency: “I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”
With its fragmentation of the human form, Duchamp’s painting Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) (1912) produced shockwaves when it debuted at the legendary Armory Show in New York in 1913. His invention of the readymade as a form of sculpture forever altered the parameters of art and authorship, epitomized by his scandalous work Fountain (1917), a mass-produced urinal turned on its side and signed with the pseudonym “R. Mutt.” And his monumental painting-on-glass The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) (1915–23) liberated painting as a medium from both the canvas and the wall. For the next 50 years, Duchamp continued to innovate in unexpected ways. For his “portable museum,” The Box in a Valise (1935–41), the artist painstakingly reproduced his life’s work to date in miniature.
Featuring some 300 artworks, this exhibition marks the first retrospective of the artist’s work in the United States since 1973. Scholarship mining the artist’s famously enigmatic work has flourished in the intervening half-century—as have myths and misconceptions. This exhibition offers a sweeping account of Duchamp’s multifaceted career across all mediums from 1900 to 1968, offering today’s audience the first opportunity to view the full breadth of his creative output.
Marcel Duchamp is organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Philadelphia Art Museum, with the generous collaboration of the Centre Pompidou.
The Exhibition is organized by Ann Temkin, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA; Michelle Kuo, Chief Curator at Large and Publisher, MoMA; and Matthew Affron, The Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art, Philadelphia Art Museum; with Alexandra “Lo” Drexelius, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA; Helena Klevorn, Curatorial Assistant, Department of the Chief Curator at Large, MoMA; Danielle Cooke, Exhibition Assistant, Philadelphia Art Museum; and Julia Vázquez, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Philadelphia Art Museum.
The exhibition is made possible by Bank of America.
Leadership support is provided by the Leontine S. and Cornell G. Ebers Endowment Fund, the Lonti Ebers Endowment for Performance, the Xin Zhang and Shiyi Pan Endowment Fund, the Sandra and Tony Tamer Exhibition Fund, Eva and Glenn Dubin, the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, and The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.
Major funding is provided by Jack Shear in honor of Agnes Gund through The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Jerry Speyer and Katherine Farley, and The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art.
The Bloomberg Connects digital experience is made possible through the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies. Scan the QR code below to explore the exhibition through audio commentaries from artists, curators, and many others.
Leadership support for the publication is provided by the Perry and Nancy Lee Bass Publication Endowment Fund, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, and Ryan Zurrer.
Major funding is provided by The Museum of Modern Art’s Research and Scholarly Publications endowment established through the generosity of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Edward John Noble Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Perry R. Bass, and the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Challenge Grant Program.
Generous support is provided by the Jo Carole Lauder Publications Endowment Fund of The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.
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