Marcel Duchamp
Definition
Marcel Duchamp was a French-American painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Dadaism and conceptual art.
Analogy
Consider Marcel Duchamp as a magician who changes your perception of everyday objects. Just like a magician can make you see a rabbit coming out of an empty hat, Duchamp made us see art in a urinal or bicycle wheel.
Related terms
Readymades: Ordinary manufactured objects that the artist selected and modified. This term was coined by Duchamp to describe his own art.
Conceptual Art: Art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Duchamp's works are considered pivotal in this movement.
Fountain (Duchamp): A famous sculpture produced by Duchamp in 1917; it's a porcelain urinal signed "R.Mutt". It's one of his most known readymades and it challenged conventional notions of what constitutes an artwork.
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