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Portrait of Marcel Duchamp, photo by Man Ray.

Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp was a French-American artist associated with 20th century-art along with Andy Warhol. He played an important role in the avant-garde 鈥渁nti-art鈥� movement known as Dadaism. He was born on July 28^th 1887 in Blainville-Crevon in the seine-maritime province of upper Normandy in northern France but he traveled back and forth between Europe and United States. He and his siblings participated in a range of activities such as painting and they all took up art. His sister Suzanne Duchamp was a painter, his older brother was a sculptor and the other was a painter and a print maker.

When he went to the United States he was celebrated there and applied to became a citizen in 1955.His career started as a painter, he sold a few pieces and was able to afford to move to United States. He was mainly associated with his unique works like the upside-down urinal entitled Fountain and the Mona Lisa print scribbled with a mustache.

1.He was a pioneer of the Dadaist movement

The Dadaist movement was a movement that questioned the assumptions about what art should be and how it should be made. Together with his sidekick Francis Picabia, Duchamp became part of the Dadaist movement. He decided to be part of the movement with the aim of fighting for the freedom of creation. He did not accept the traditional modes of artistic production. His sister Suzanne Duchamp was one of the few female participants of the Dada movement.

2.Duchamp gave up art for chess

French artist Marcel Duchamp. Unknown author.

At the age of 31, he stopped doing art in pursuit of chess. He gained the title of a chess master in 1925 (the level below grand master), and later participated in the Chess Olympiads. French team for the Chess Olympics, competing in international tournaments. He was a member of an Olympic Chess team but later became a chess journalist.

3.Duchamp secretly worked on his last work of art for almost 25 years

Nude (Study), Sad Young Man on a Train.

Many held the belief that Duchamp abandoned the world of art decades ago; it was later shown that he was working on a secret work of art in his house from the year 1946 to 1966. Duchamp then requested that the work should not be shown to the public until after his death leaving behind a binder with clear instructions on how to put together the piece of art.

4.He didn’t consider his “art” art

Marcel Duchamp is mostly known for his ready made, mass-produced objects from a ceramic urinal to typewriter covers and coat-racks which he declared as art. This ended up changing the course of art history and what we consider art. The only thing is: he never did declare these objects art. According to him, he created the art with no intention other than unloading ideas. For example in advance a broken arm 1964 involved the suspension of a snow shovel.

5.He was a bit of a con man

He used a fake check to pay for his large dental bill in 1919. The dentist took the payment knowing that the check would be valid but it was not valid.

In 1923, Duchamp set up a stock company and gave out shares that stockholders would receive a dividend of 20 percent. He intended to break the famous casino鈥檚 bank by playing roulette after he conceived a plan with the help of money he got from 鈥淢onte Carlo Bond鈥�.

In the end a maximum of eight shares were sold and Duchamp鈥檚 system was futile while in the Second World War, Marcel Duchamp passed through Nazi checkpoints in occupied 麻豆APP posing as a cheese merchant to smuggle material for his artwork out of the country.

6.His signature created the concept of the artistic gesture as a work of art

In order to avoid his art being exhibited under his real name, he pseudonyms such as R.Mutt, Rrose S茅lavy, his nick name. He was interested in the role of the signature in art and its capacity to assign a work of art as such.

In the installation of the mass-produced ceramic urinal in a museum, he finally signed it in one of his most common pseudonyms, R.Mutt.

7.He redefines artwork with the Ready made

A replica of Marcel Duchamp, Fountain. photo by students evans presentation

In 1915 Marcel Duchamp created his first ready made using a technique consists of transforming any object into a work of art. With this, Duchamp revolutionized the art world. Apart from the urinal, he created the bicycle wheel he called it an assisted ready made which involved the combination of more than one item. Currently, the work no longer exists, but reproductions of the urinal can be found.

8.He drew a mustache and beard onto da Vinci鈥檚 Mona Lisa

marcel duchamp1919, L.H.O.O.Q., originally published in 391, n. 12, March 1920.

In 1919, Marcel Duchamp decided to parody the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. True to himself and always with a touch of humor, he named this work L.H.O.O.Q. When pronounces the anagram in French, the crass meaning of the title is revealed: she has a hot ass. He penciled a mustache and a goatee to Mona Lisa鈥檚 upper lip and chin which crosses the traditional concept of art.

9.He is a victim of criticism because of his Nude

In the nude of him descending a staircase, he has received a lot of criticism. Marcel Duchamp wanted to exhibit the nude In 1912, at the Salon des Ind茅pendants,( society of independent artists). He made the request only a day before its opening however, his brothers and friends demanded the dismissal of the nude painting. The same Nude was shown at the Armory Show a year later in New York and it was well liked and the Americans loved it applauding his art.

10.He was snubbed by the newspapers

Being the creator and the author of various ready made and works including the famous parodied Mona Lisa. He made efforts to have his work published by the newspapers, but was constantly turned down several times. Nevertheless he kept on being persistent until a total of around twenty of his creations were published in the newspapers.

Marcel Duchamp was an excellent artist with a powerful career. Even after his death he had deeply revolutionized the art world. He left behind a new form of contemporary art and inspired many modern artists available on Artsper. Being one of the most studied, recognized and celebrated artists of recent time. He also enjoyed intellectual stimuli in all its forms, which the artist claimed was a pseudonym of one of his female friends.