Duchamp was such an amazing man.He was a genius and waaaay ahead of his time.If you want some insight into what makes an original,brilliant man tick,read this!

Bicycle wheel on stool. A urinal. A bottle rack. A comb. A mustached Mona Lisa. And other sordid odds and ends. Though his "Readymades" continue to shock the public as monstrosities to the art world, very few know the story behind the wit and audacity that is Marcel Duchamp. In this exhaustive album of Duchamp's oeuvre, Naumann gives compassion to "Duchamp's things," objects crucified by indifference and imperception, through his stunning layout of text and colored figures; the book itself is truly an aesthetic masterpiece. Albeit an art historian, Naumann does not digress into meditations on esoterica. Rather, he examines Duchamp's letters, interviews, speeches, notes, writings, and other primary source evidence to construct an enlightening and entertaining interpretation for each and every one of Duchamp's masterpieces. Exploring the philosophical questions at play in each work, Naumann explains to us Duhcamp's ideal of art and answers convincingly why the artist provocateur felt the need to abandon the jurisdiction of Taste and Aesthetics. For anyone brave enough to be enlightened about the complexity of a urinal or the phonetic pun behind L.H.O.O.Q (the mustached Mona Lisa), I urge you not to only read this book but to perceive it in its entirety.

Duchamp's book is in a select club of strange book-objects that tell non-linear stories juxtaposed with art. To try and talk about what this is saying is beside the point. Duchamp is designing perfect machines, passion machines as efficient as assembly lines. If you can find it, snap it up.

Joselit's study of Duchamp is a top-notch academic book and for the non art history buffs, it will certainly be a challenging read. Joselit's vocabulary is immense and sophisticated and without direct references to the reproductions included in the text (ie. Nude Decending a Staircase, figure 1, p. 33) his assertations can be hard to follow. For those already familiar with Duchamp and his art, this book will take your knowledge to the next level. Joselit is an incredible modern scholar.

Thorough, rigorous and provocative. Joselit provides fresh insight into the intellectual basis of Duchamp's work and arrives at some startling conclusions, but never makes any flying leaps of his own-- his results stem from careful research and solid analysis. Jammin'!

This book is the catalogue for an exhibition on the intersection of the works of Duchamp and Cornell, specifically the "Duchamp Dossier," a peculiar collection of art and trash that Cornell kept on a shelf in his house. Since it was not discovered until after his death, one can only guess whether he considered it an art piece, though he was known for compiling such "explorations," as he called them, throughout his life. The book contains a large number of beautiful color plates of both artists' work, though many of Duchamp's major pieces are not reproduced (the Cornell plates are more comprehensive). The accompanying texts are not dense critiques but, for the most part, anecdotal narratives with the occasional interpretive aside. For such a large book, it was a fast read and very entertaining. The two artists in question are visual poets rather than painters per se, and there are many creative similarities between them despite their wholly different lifestyles and personalities. Worth buying if you are a Duchamp fanatic like myself, especially for the images.

Duchamp is undeniably intriguing. His art has covered numerous styles, forms, concepts, etc.. His hermetic, curious existence is fascinating as well, and thanks to some of the essays in this wonderful book, new perspective is shown. Joseph Cornell's art never made the same impact as Duchamp, but it really can't be argued that he is extremely talented. It's hard to give a decent review of this. I've found it to be one of the most fascinating books about art ever, which is an incredibly hard task.

I haven't actually bought this book yet, in hopes of receiving it for Christmas, but I spent an indordinant amount of time looking at it in a bookstore - and even went back to admire it again. I love Joseph Cornell's work, and have perused all available volumes with pictures of his artwork, and this is the most complete and beautiful. His shadow boxes are displayed one per page - page after page, which is such a treat! I'm also a Marcel DuChamp fan and think it's genius to combine their work in one book. The likenesses and juxtapositions are facinating, and make this compilation a must have.

this book is a surprisingly accessible work on the lives of five important artists (duchamp, cage, tinguely, rauschenberg, and cunningham) of the avant-garde, each working from a different discipline. tomkins has gathered exhaustive biographical data on each artist and the reader gets the impression that he is good friends with each of them. his critical stance on the artwork discussed is respectful, and he refrains from using a lot of artworld jargon. a very entertaining read.

This interview with Marcel Duchamp by Pierre Cabanne provides clarity to the myth that surrounds Duchamp and his non art. Duchamp gave the interview about 2 years before his death. He answers directly and in context the meaning of his work and non work. Others books attempt to tell us not only what his production means but try to tell us what his words mean as well. This books makes clear that Duchamp did not like the art world (although he used it to his advantage), he did not like art that appealed to the eye, he did not make art, he amused himself making objects and he played games. Its an honest interview and needs no interpreters. You can understand the valve of this mans ideas and what they mean to current conceptual art. Or is it conceptual non art.

Is Bowdoin Davis intentionally seditious when he writes that Duchamp, "the perceived destroyer" of artistic conventions integrated art historical traditions within his work? This book allows the reader--even one not schooled in 20th-century art history--to access levels of meaning in Duchamp's significant works. While explaining the impact of the artist's visit to a 1912 Munich exhibition of machinery and machine-produced artifacts, Davis connects imagery, language, and technology in surprising ways. The impact of this book goes beyond its immediate subject matter, because the author pricks the reader's preconceived notions of Surrealism and pieces together new ways of seeing art. Beautifully illustrated with a wealth of photographs, this volume is as transformative as its subject.

If you are looking for individual research involving either artist, look else where. Nonetheless, this book gives a good gleamce into two revolutionary artists lives as they relate to one another. The "true" father of modern art, Marcel Duchamp, and his mad-photographer, Max Ernst as their lives mingle between negative, photo, and glass.

I am not a Duchamp scholar, just a big, big fan who has spent years pursuing my admiration of the artist, the prankster and the genius. This book revels in all three aspects of Duchamp's oeuvre not to mention it is a true joy to hold, read, touch. A bibliophile's appreciation combined with a scholarly interest make this book highly enjoyable and frankly, lots of fun. For the German scholar, all articles are printed in both their German as well as English translations. From an art historical perspective, the text is very well integrated with the presentation of artwork, which includes vellum overlays, making the experience interactive and a sensory delight. This is revelry in true Duchamp; his fun, whimsy and always revolving and diverging vision.