Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés

by Michael R. Taylor, Andrew Lins (Contributor), Melissa S. Meighan (Contributor)

In his early thirties, Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) convinced everyone that he had abandoned making art in favor of playing chess. But from 1946 to 1966, he was secretly at work in his studio on West 14th Street in New York City. There he produced his final masterpiece: Étant donnés: 1º la chute d'eau, 2º le gaz d’éclairage, composed of a battered wood door through which one views a prone, nude female, holding aloft an antique gas lamp against a landscape of trees, waterfall, and sky. Unveiled as a permanent installation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in July 1969, the year after Duchamp’s death, it startled the art world with its explicit eroticism and voyeurism, as well as its trompe l’oeil realism. Since its public debut, Étant donnés has been recognized as one of the most important and enigmatic works of the 20th century.

 

Published to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the original installation of Étant donnés and to accompany the first major exhibition on the artwork and its studies, this richly illustrated book presents a wealth of new research and documents that draw upon previously unpublished works of art and materials. The catalogue also examines the critical and artistic reception of Étant donnés, as evidenced by the subsequent work of Les Levine, Hannah Wilke, Robert Gober, Marcel Dzama, Ray Johnson, and other artists who have engaged with Duchamp’s provocative and challenging tableau-construction.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Visual Art

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Michael R. Taylor is chief curator and deputy director for art and education at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

Reviews

[Randy Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to see it for myself. I had heard of this mysterious last work, installed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I went to the museum, looked at all the pieces in this comprehensive Duchamp collection and then I walked into the empty room which provided no guidance as to what I was about to see or how I should even see it.

The simple wall plaque tells me nothing. In front of me is a large farmhouse door framed by rustic bricks. I felt like I was in the French countryside. This is it? A door? Then as my eyes settle on the door, I saw a flickering white light coming from the other side. As I walked closer, I noticed two small holes in the door and I rest my eyes on them. That’s when I see Entant Donnes.

I won’t describe the indescribable. I will only say that it blew me away but then I was prepared for that as a Duchamp-phile. Others have less emphatic experiences and that is understandable. What I will say is that this book will only speak to you after you have seen the art work. And then only if your reaction compelled you to learn more. If all of that happens then this exhibition guide will be extremely satisfying.

What I liked most about the book and there are so many things to like, is that they saved Duchamp’s correspondence with his lover Maria Martens for the end of the book. When you read his love letters to her it makes complete sense why it took him twenty years to complete Entant Donnes. By the time he had completed it he had been amply feted by the art world and he had nothing else to prove except to unveil this secret work which happened after his death.

This book is a beautiful and enlightening exploration of a complex work of art and yet it’s the love letters that supply Entant Donnes’ with the missing piece, the ache of unrequited love.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible images and documentation on Marcel Duchamp's great and his last piece of work "Etant donnes. When everyone thought he was playing chess, Duchamp has been working secretly on his late masterpiece. A work that is still disturbing and frankly shocking.

Violence, eros, and mystery all wrapped in one art work. Yale University did a fantastic job in putting this volume together. There are tons of Duchamp books out there, but this is truly an essential volume. The more one writes about this work, the more mysterious it becomes. Truly unique and one-of-a-kind.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Taylor's essays on Duchamp are insightful. This is a beautiful book and I'm sure the exhibition was stunning as well.

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a highly informative documentation of the creation of Duchamp's last, and highly important, work.