The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp

by Arturo Schwarz

"To be a painter for the sake of being a painter was never the ultimate aim of my life. That's why I tried to go into different forms of activity -- purely optical things and kineticism". When Gabrielle Buffet discovered Duchamp's Rotoreliefs, she emphasized this point "Duchamp's aim was to primarily to modify all plastic matter, to reject once and for all from his working arsenal all the traditional tools and equipment (tubes of paint, canvas, and brushes); to obtain the effect by mechanical means instead of through the expression of personal dynamism inherent in a particular individuality; to substitute technical value for expressive value".

Genres: Art

1002 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 1970

About the author

Arturo Umberto Samuele Schwarz was an Italian scholar, art historian, poet, writer, lecturer, art consultant and curator of international art exhibitions.

Reviews

[Rita Stradling]

This book should be marked as partially read but I think I should get credit for just lifting the book... it weighed like 20 lbs.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duchamp was one of the 1st, if not THE 1st artist whose work I encountered who emphasized the primary importance of the IDEA - an emphasis still important to me. Schwarz, & others like him, help set the standards for scholarliness. As such, this bk is one of the most important art bks in my collection. It's full of ideas, interesting images, incisive study.. it's thorough.