Marcel Duchamp: Tu m': Puzzle Upon Puzzle

by Marcel Duchamp, Karl Gerstner

The oeuvre Duchamp left us is small and repeatedly subject to multiple interpretations of the art historical, psychological, socio-critical and alchemical persuasion. And yet, how Duchamp's last painting, Tu m' from 1918, has never drawn extensive attention among his exegetes. The title itself poses a Does it mean "tu m'aimes" (you love me), "tu m'emb'tes" (you bore me) or "tu m'emmerdes" (you can kiss my ass)? Karl Gerstner, a prominent Swiss graphic designer who knew Duchamp personally, was taken aback the first time he saw Tu m' , but also intrigued. Having acquired a reproduction of the picture, Gerstner proceeded to penetrate its meanings and surfaces more and more deeply; as his surprise faded, his fascination grew. Enter this book, encouraged by artist Richard Hamilton (perhaps the most intimate of Duchamp connoisseurs), and its 20 analytical essays of riddle-solving.

55 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Marcel Duchamp (also known as Rrose Sélavy) was a French artist (he became an American citizen in 1955) whose work and ideas had considerable influence on the development of post-World War I Western art, and whose advice to modern art collectors helped shape the tastes of the Western art world.

While he is most often associated with Dada and Surrealism, his participation in Surrealism was largely behind the scenes, and after being involved in New York Dada, he barely participated in Paris Dada.

Thousands of books and articles attempt to interpret Duchamp's artwork and philosophy, but in interviews and his writing, Duchamp only added to the mystery. The interpretations interested him as creations of their own, and as reflections of the interpreter.

A playful man, Duchamp prodded thought about artistic processes and art marketing, not so much with words, but with actions such as dubbing a urinal "art" and naming it Fountain. He produced relatively few artworks as he quickly moved through the avant-garde rhythms of his time.

Reviews

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is hard to know whether I saw Tu M' back in the 1960s, but somehow there is a vague memory of seeing it at The Museum of Modern Art. I did not know much about Duchamp at that time, and cannot claim to know any more now. But there is something about the titles of his work which would always grab me.

How literal could one take "To Be Looked at (from the Other Side of the Glass) with One Eye, Close to, for Almost an Hour"? The title, Tu M' is personal. It refers to something between you and me... but what? And what of this very long rectangle with so much happening in this painting? (The memory of seeing this piece was reinforced with the mention of the bottle brush protruding from the painting.)

Karl Gerstner spent a long time looking at this work, and thinking about its components. He took it apart, layer by layer, and analyzed the content. Gerstner's point of view was from a graphic designer, typographer, and artist. He obviously had a keen sense of observation and knew Duchamp's work from looking carefully. In most instances, this sort of thing would not be of any interest to me, but in this case, I found it to be fascinating.