Nude Descending a Staircase, 1912
Born on July 28, 1887, Marcel Duchamp, the father of conceptual art is also associated with groundbreaking 20th century avant garde art movements such as Cubism, Fauvism, Dadaism and Surrealism. Most famous for his urinal, Fountain, which he re-contextualised by popping it atop a plinth and placing it within a gallery, Duchamp playfully mocked the art world and stirred enormous controversy whilst questioning the very notion of what constitutes a work of art – a question still hotly debated today.
From drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa to his ‘readymades’ which were artworks created from found objects such as his bicycle wheel, Duchamp’s approach to the creative process, the notion of beauty and the importance of spectatorship in relation to viewingworks of art is arguably one of the most important contributioins to the history of modern art.
© 2011, ArtSmacked. All rights reserved.
Follow ArtSmacked