Works of Art I Know

Nude Descending a Staircase
Marcel Duchamp
French
1912

My first impressions:
This painting is intriguing because it shows the passage of time when a person is stepping down a staircase. This reminds me of a strobe light and how all of the frames are fit into one painting. Duchamp is not afraid to show each second of the action because the outcome is supposed to have shapes overlapping and mixed together. He doesn't paint the lines of the body, instead he replaces them with shapes. The colors may be dull, but they work very well when applying value to the shapes.

What I have learned:
Marcel Duchamp was born on 28 July 1887, in Blainville. in 1904 he traveled to Paris to decide which style of artist he wanted to be. All of his siblings became artists also. He was a member in the painters' group known as the "Golden Section". This group worked with showing movement and the passage of time on canvas. There was a commotion about the Nude Descending a Staircase in 1913 at the Army Show. The painting, which included both cubism and futurism, shocked the people. Many parodies and articles were written about the notorious piece soon after. It was learned that before hand, Albert Gleizes, another painter, asked Duchamp to take the painting out of the show, or change the title. To this Duchamp refused and submitted the work anyway. He came to New York in 1915 to find himself famous among people who were surprisingly excited about the breakthrough in modern art by Duchamp's painting. By 1914 he had put painting aside and started working on abstract forms and sculptures. In 1923 he put aside art altogether and dedicated himself to playing chess and being an art critic. Together with Katherina Dreier he founded the "Société anonyme" for the propagation of modern art in the U.S. He died on October 2nd 1968 in France.