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The essential Duchamp

27 Apr – 11 Aug 2019

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Marcel Duchamp, Hat rack 1964 (replica of 1917 original) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Fountain 1950 (replica of 1917 original) Philadelphia Museum of Art; Bicycle wheel 1964 (replica of 1913 original) Philadelphia Museum of Art; Bottlerack 1961 (replica of 1914 original) Philadelphia Museum of Art © Association Marcel Duchamp/ADAGP. Copyright Agency, 2018.

Poets play Duchamp

In the lead up to the exhibition The essential Duchamp, six poets were asked to respond creatively to Marcel Duchamp, the artistic giant of the 20th century who ushered in an age of conceptual art.

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Marcel Duchamp: from A to Z

A beginner’s guide to Marcel Duchamp, one of the 20th century’s most original artistic figures and subject of 'The essential Duchamp' exhibition.

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I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products.

— Marcel Duchamp

 
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Marcel Duchamp, 'Bicycle wheel', 1964 (replica of 1913 original), wheel, painted wood, 59.7 x 64.8 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of Galleria Schwarz d'Arte, Milan, 1964-175-1 © Association Marcel Duchamp/ADAGP. Copyright Agency, 2019

Marcel Duchamp
Bicycle wheel, 1964 (replica of 1913 original)
© Association Marcel Duchamp/ADAGP. Copyright Agency, 2019

The components of 'Bicycle wheel', the first readymade, were an ordinary wheel, the two-bladed fork that normally attaches the wheel to the bicycle’s frame, and a four-legged white stool upon which Duchamp mounted both the wheel and fork. Duchamp did not make 'Bicycle wheel' as a work of art; at the time, its purpose was to divert his mind like a plaything. However, 'Bicycle wheel' connects to motifs of rotation in many other works. The original was lost when Duchamp left Paris in 1915. He reconstituted it in 1916 as the first readymade replica, and other versions followed over the years.