Dialogues: Duchamp, Cornell, Johns, Rauschenberg

by Dorothy Kosinski

This book traces the visual and conceptual relationships evident in the works of Marcel Duchamp (1887―1968), Joseph Cornell (1903―1972), Jasper Johns (b. 1930), and Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925). Although scholars have previously explored the biographical contact between these four artists, this is the first close look at the aesthetic consequences of their interactions. Dorothy Kosinski argues for a notion of dialogic exchange rather than influence, noting a number of shared characteristics in these artists’ works including iconography (for example, appropriation of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa ), process (assemblage and collage), form (boxes), integration of text into the visual field (sardonic subtitles, nonsense inscriptions, etc.), and shared fascination with simple machines. Featuring around 50 major works by these pivotal artists, including Duchamp’s Green Box and Johns’s Device, Dialogues reveals the complex and rich exchange manifested in their art.

Distributed for the Dallas Museum of Art

Exhibition Dallas Museum of Art (September 4, 2005 ― January 6, 2006)

Genres: Art

116 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2005

Reviews

[Georgia Carbone · Rating 5 out of 5]

The common conceptual threads that run through the work of these 4 artists. How they took different approaches to similar questions. How they experimented with visual language. How they inspired and challenged each other.