Fifty years after their debut in the same building on Madison Avenue, Gagosian New York is presenting an exhibition of Marcel Duchamp’s editioned readymades.
Duchamp remains one of the ultimate avant-gardists, whose work radically challenged ideas of authorship, representation, and the very notion of art itself. His 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.” By taking a standard urinal, signing it “R Mutt” and titling it Fountain (1917), Duchamp controversially elevated this object into the realm of art. Similarly, by instructing his sister to sign Bottle Rack (Bottle Dryer) (1914), Duchamp transformed this utilitarian object while abdicating his own authorship of the idea.
Many of Duchamp’s readymades were lost or destroyed, but were replaced by Duchamp with fourteen editioned multiples from 1964. These editioned readymades, including Fountain, Bicycle Wheel, Hat Rack, and Traveler’s Folding Item, were exhibited the following year at Cordier & Eckstrom Gallery, and then located at 978 Madison Avenue. Through reproduction and recreation of his own works, Duchamp embodied his artistic vision and critiques of art. Duchamp’s readymades thus mark a moment when the foundations of originality and authorship were single-handedly shaken by the radical imaginings of one artist, representing a challenging rupture for Modernism and art beyond.
Marcel Duchamp Bicycle Wheel, 1916/64
Metal wheel mounted on painted wood stool
51 x 25 x 16 inches / 129.5 x 63.5 x 40.6 cm
© Succession Marcel Duchamp / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2014.
Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Photo by Philippe Migeat
by Louise Lui
Marcel Duchamp at Gagosian is on until August 8, 2014.