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Marcel Duchamp


(1887 - 1968)

Duchamp's comment on the commercialsim of art:  An exact copy of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa -- except sporting a cute little moustache and goatee!  Viva la differance!



Text and image mirrored from the superbly 
fantastic site (highly recommended):

http://www.finesite.webart.ru/shocking/lhooq-1.htm

In 1919, Marcel Duchamp came back from New York 
to Paris. In the U.S., his work "Nude descending 
a staircase" was celebrated and made him famous. 

Back in Paris, he drew a moustache and goatee with 
a pencil on a reproduction of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, 
and named his work "L.H.O.O.Q." 

This, when read aloud in French, gives 
"Elle a chaud au cul", which means something 
like "She's got hot pants" or "She has a 
hot ass." 

He used an image, reproduced so often that 
it had become trite and mocked one of the 
most famous works in the history of painting. 

Duchamp's work fell into an art movement 
that arose in Europe during World War I, 
known as Dada. This period came into being 
as a reaction against the unprecedented 
carnage of war. Artists felt that any 
civilization that could tolerate such 
brutality must be swept away, and all 
of its institutions, including traditional 
art, along with it. 

[Theatre of the Absurd on the MAC account!]

Dada, therefore, was against everything. 
Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q. is rather typical 
for Dadaism, a rebellion against traditional 
and no more reflected habits and values. 


delicately beige-yellow, the nude, a woman, walking down the stair case.  Her body has been totally abstracted into geometric shapes, until only the motion itself is catpured, in the background, we see what might be brown books on a book shelf, beside the stair-well behind her.  We see her waking with her right side towards us.  We see for the first time that art is more than just technique.  But.  Not, for the last time.

Nu descendant un escalier


(Nude descending a staircase)




(Above pic from the superb French   Z U M B A   site...

http://franceweb.fr/zumba/Duchamp/

Tout Fait entry



A humorous bit here:


Even the art experts are STILL confused!


And finally, this bit...


The Mona Lisa with a 'milk moustache'

Got Mona?




PLEASE NOTE:  The management of this site would 
              like to appologize to the world of
art for the above painting, and it WILL be removed
just as soon as possible!  However, Pizo the Mad
has escaped and can't be found.  (He has the 
only password to the system!  Sacre bleu!

Interpol has issued an all points bulletin. 
However, he is a master of disguise, an 
international liberal and table dancer.  
He will be a rascally skaliwag to be found!  

But, have no doubt:  We WILL find him!

We have it on good advice, that he may 
have disguised himself as a "sea scape" 
painting (acrylic on canvas)
-- sofa sized of course.


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