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“The Puppeteer of Your Own Past” Marcel Duchamp and the Manipulation of Posterity

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“The Puppeteer of Your Own Past” Marcel Duchamp and the Manipulation of Posterity “The Puppeteer of Your Own Past” Marcel Duchamp and the Manipulation of Posterity Michelle Anne Lee PhD The University of Edinburgh 2010 I, Michelle Lee, declare: (a) that the thesis has been composed by myself, and (b) that the work herein is my own, and (c) that the work herein has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH AABBSSTTRRAACCTT OOFF TTHHEESSIISS Regulation 3.1.14 of the Postgraduate Assessment Regulations for Research Degrees refers These regulations are available via:- hhttp://www.acaffairs.ed.ac.uk/Regulations/Assessment/Home.htmttp://www.acaffairs.ed.ac.uk/Regulations/Assessment/Home.htm Name of Candidate: Michelle Lee Address : 5 (2F2) Edina Street Edinburgh Postal Code: EH7 5PN Degree: PhD by research Title of “The Puppeteer of Your Own Past” Thesis: Marcel Duchamp and the Manipulation of Posterity No. of words in the main text of Thesis: 94, 711 The image of Marcel Duchamp as a brilliant but laconic dilettante has come to dominate the literature surrounding the artist’s life and work. His intellect and strategic brilliance were vaunted by his friends and contemporaries, and served as the basis of the mythology that has been coalescing around the artist and his work since before his death in 1968. Though few would challenge these attributions of intelligence, few have likewise considered the role that Duchamp’s prodigious mind played in bringing about the present state of his career. Many of the signal features of Duchamp’s artistic career: his avoidance of the commercial art market, his cultivation of patrons, his “retirement” from art and the secret creation and posthumous unveiling of his Étant Donnés: 1˚ la chute d’eau/2˚ le gaz d’éclairage, all played key roles in the development of the Duchampian mythos. Rather than treating Duchamp’s current art historical position as the fortuitous result of chance, this thesis attempts to examine the many and subtle ways in which Duchamp worked throughout his life to control how he and his work were and are perceived. Such an examination necessarily begins at the start of his relationship with the general and specialist media, through the auspices of his painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. This is followed by an examination of Duchamp’s decades-long relationship with the press through the interviews given during his life. Duchamp’s concern for his physical legacy is explored next, initially through his relationships with his two dominant patrons, Walter and Louise Arensberg and Katherine Dreier. Not only did he act as advisor and dealer in the development of both prestigious collections, Duchamp had the privileged position of participant in the negotiations surrounding the disposition of the collections he had helped to build. Duchamp’s concern for the preservation of his physical legacy continued after the installation of his own work within major American museums. Thus, next is considered the development and effects of the two large-scale retrospectives of Duchamp’s work held within his lifetime. Finally is considered the role of Duchamp’s posthumous work, the Étant Donnés. Through the combination of secrecy and strategically revealed hints, Duchamp ensured that his final work would engender discussion long after his death. G:\searchable pdf\3 Abstract.doc Use this side only This thesis is dedicated with love to my father, Maj. Raymond Thomas Lee, III who has ceaselessly encouraged my academic growth, and without whom none of this would have been possible. Contents: List of Images ..................................................................................................................... ii Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 – The Nude Descending a Staircase....................................................................9 Chapter 2 – The Silence of Marcel Duchamp is Overrated...............................................33 Chapter 3 – The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection................................................69 Chapter 4 – Katherine Dreier and the Société Anonyme.................................................127 Chapter 5 – Marcel Duchamp: a Retrospective Exhibition .............................................186 Chapter 6 – The Almost Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp .....................................224 Chapter 7 - Étant Donnés: 1º La Chute d’Eau, 2º Le Gaz d’Éclairage............................253 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................301 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................306 Illustrations ......................................................................................................................352 i List of Images All works are by Marcel Duchamp unless otherwise noted. 1.01 – Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (January 1912); Oil on canvas 1 1 (57 /2 x 35 /16 in.; 146 x 89 cm); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection 1.02 – Anonymous, “The Armory Puzzle,”; American Art News, 8 March 1913, p. 4. 1.03 – Anonymous, “Here She is: White Outline Shows ‘Nude Descending a Staircase.’”; Chicago Daily Tribune, 24 March 1913, p. 5. 1.04 – Sad Young Man on a Train (December 1911); Oil on textured cardboard 3 3 mounted on board (39 /8 x 28 /4 in.; 100 x 73 cm); Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Venice 1.05 – The King and Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes (May 1912); Oil on canvas 1 9 (45 /16 x 50 /16 in.; 114.5 x 128.5 cm); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection 1.06 – Portrait of Chess Players (December 1911); Oil on canvas 1 3 (42 /2 x 39 /4 in.; 108 x 101 cm); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection 1.07 – J. F. Griswold, Seeing New York With a Cubist: The Rude Descending a Staircase (Rush Hour at the Subway); Evening Sun, 20 March 1913 1.08 – Anonymous, Art at the Armory by Powers, Futurist 1.09 – Menu for the International Exhibition of Modern Art’s Beefsteak Dinner for the Press Signed by guests at the dinner; Smithsonian Institution, Walt Kuhn Family papers and Armory Show records 1.10 – Henry McBride, “The Nude-Descending-a-Staircase Man Surveys Us”; New York Tribune, 12 September 1915, section 4, p. 2. 1.11 – Articles from The New York Times featuring photographs of Marcel Duchamp posed in front of his Nude Descending a Staircase, no. 2 1.12 – Kenyon Cox, “Cubists and Futurists are Making Insanity Pay”; The New York Times, 15 March 1913, p. 5. 1.13 – Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 3 (1916); Watercolour, ink, pencil and 5 7 pastel over photograph (57 /8 x 35 /16 in.; 147 x 90 cm); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection 1.14 – Preparatory study for Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 3 (1915); Watercolour, pencil and white transparent pastel over photograph; 13 1 (13 /16 x 8 /4 in.; 35.2 x 20.9 cm); Present location unknown 1.15 – Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 4 (23 July 1918); Pencil, ink and wash on 11 3 paper (3 /16 x 2 /8 in.; 9.3 x 6.1 cm); Museum of the City of New York 1.16a – Pochoir of Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (December 1937); Pochoir reproduction and blue ink over a French 5-centime revenue stamp 3 7 (13 /4 x 7 /8 in.; 35 x 20 cm) 1.16b - Pochoir of Bride (October 1937); Pochoir reproduction and blue ink over a 5 11 French 5-centime revenue stamp; (13 /16 x 7 /16 in.; 33.8 x 19.5 cm ) 1.17 – Stills from the dream sequence “Discs” in Dreams that Money Can Buy; directed by Hans Richter, 1947 1.18 – The final scene in the dream sequence “Discs” in Dreams that Money Can Buy; directed by Hans Richter, 1947 1.19 – Eliot Elisofon, Duchamp Descending a Staircase (1952); Gelatin Silver Print; Time, inc. ii 1.20a – Edweard Muybridge, Woman Walking Down Stairs (1887); Collotype; from the series Animal Locomotion 1.20b - Étienne-Jules Marey, Marche n° 4 (1884); Chronophotograph on a fixed plate negative 1.21 – Cover image for the paperback edition of Robert Lebel’s Marcel Duchamp; Paragraphic Books, 1967 1.22 – Shop window installation at Bamberger’s Department Store, Newark, New Jersey (January 1960); Grove Press Records, Department of Special Collections, Syracuse University Library 1.23 – Poster for the 50th Anniversary of the Famous International Armory Show, 1913 (1963); designed by Marcel Duchamp in cooperation with Herbert 11 Matter; (44 x 26 /16 in.; 111.8 x 67.8 cm) 1.24 – Juan Miró, Untitled (Nude Descending a Staircase)(4 September 1924); Conté crayon, crayon and graphite pencil on laid paper with a collaged postage 11 5 stamp; (23 /16 x 18 /16 in.; 60.17 x 46.51 cm); Private collection 1.25 – Salvador Dali, Nude Ascending a Staircase, Homage to Duchamp (1973) 1.26 – Hananiah Harari, Nude Descending a Staircase (date unknown); (74 x 38 in.; 187.9 x 96.5 cm) 1.27 – Gerhard Richter, Emma (Nude on a Staircase) (1966); Oil on canvas 3 3 (78 /4 x 51 /16 in.; 200 x 130 cm); Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany 1.28 – Gilles Aillaud, Eduardo Arroyo & Antonio Recalcati,Live and Let Die or The Tragic End of Marcel Duchamp (1965); Oil on canvas (series of 8 tableaux, 3 7 3 3 66 /4 x 44 /8 and 66 /4 x 51 /16 in.; 162 x 114 cm and 162 x 130 cm); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid 2.01 – Stills from James Johnson Sweeney’s interview of Marcel Duchamp; Part of the NBC programme, Conversations with Elder Wise Men; Recorded summer 1955
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