Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp was a French artist who became an American citizen in 1955. His work and ideas had considerable influence on the development of post-World War Two Western art. His advice to modern art collectors helped shape the tastes of the Western art world.

Sourced

• I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own tastes.
  • quoted by Harriet & Sidney Janis in "Marchel Duchamp: Anti-Artist" in View magazine (3/21/45)
  • reprinted in Robert Motherwell, Dada Painters and Poets (1951)

Unsourced

• The viewers of a work of art always contributed to its emergence, since their approval or disapproval helped insure its survival.

• There is no solution because there is no problem.

About

• I just like - just breathing. I like breathing better than working.
  • spoken by the character "Marcel Duchamp" in
  • The Mysteries and What's So Funny (play, 1992) by David Gordon