Dada's Boys: Masculinity after Duchamp

by David Hopkins

In this provocative and stimulating book, David Hopkins addresses the homosocial structures in Dada and Surrealist art with an eye to their relevance to current artistic and theoretical debate. Bestriding the book is the pivotal figure of the artist Marcel Duchamp, who was at the center of various groups of artistic and literary figures―predominantly male―in Europe and America. And at the heart of the investigation are Duchamp’s relationships with these men, the various interactions of those within the groups, and the impact of this type of male camaraderie on the artworks they produced. Hopkins looks at specific moments in the careers of Duchamp and some of his associates―Francis Picabia, Man Ray, Max Ernst and André Breton―and discusses in detail the reception of Duchamp’s ideas in the post-war period. He goes on to trace the influence of the homosocial nature of Surrealism and Dada on the art world from the 1950s to the work of contemporary male and female artists.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2007

About the author

Get your FREE War of the Hounds ebook—a novella set in the world of the Dryad's Crown.

David Hopkins is a fantasy novelist with an interest in Shakespeare, medieval history, fairy tales, and myth. He is the author of The Dryad’s Crown, a story set in the vast world of Efre Ousel. BookLife described The Dryad's Crown as "a welcome, inventive, humane fantasy, set at the scale of a single fascinating life."

His work also includes the novel Wear Chainmail to the Apocalypse, the short story collection We Miss All the Great Parties and the burlesque memoir The Wild and Wayward Tales of Tammi True.

David has been a regular contributor to D Magazine, Smart Pop Books, and Fanboy Radio. He has written op-eds for the Dallas Morning News and Chicago Tribune, comic books and graphic novels in a variety of genres, and even a few D&D adventures.

David is married to artist and designer, April Hopkins. He has two daughters, Kennedy and Greta, and a dog named Moose.

Reviews

[Sam Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting perspective on Dadaism, that made me quite interested in a lot of these male post-1960s artists who I'd otherwise not be too keen on. Matthew Barney's 'Cremaster 4', set on the Isle of Man, massively took me by surprise. I need to watch it.