NEW YORK, NY.- Marcel Duchamp (1887 – 1968) is considered to be the most influential artist of the 20th century. One hundred years ago he revolutionised how we look at and think about art with his invention of ‘the readymade’. In the new millennium – besides the great allure he holds for many contemporary artists worldwide – Duchamp has entered popular mainstream culture with increasing force.
The Duchamp Dictionary breaks through the academic barriers and impenetrable vocabulary of most of the writing on Duchamp and makes the artist as accessible as he deserves to be. The book features more than 200 jargon-free and thought-provoking entries, presented alphabetically, on the most interesting and important artworks, relationships, people and ideas in Duchamp’s life.
From alchemy and anatomy to Warhol and windows, Thomas Girst’s engaging and highly researched text is underpinned by in-depth scholarship and the very latest research. The eclectic, amusing and always informative entries include anatomy, art market, bicycle wheel, boredom, breasts, chance, cheese, chess, chocolate, collecting, Dada, death, drugs, Max Ernst, eroticism, lovers, Man Ray, R Mutt, Nude Descending, Optics, Smoking, Surrealism, Vanity, X-Ray.
Thomas Girst’s revealing introduction shows how the dictionary form has been an inspiration to artists and writers from Flaubert to the Surrealists, while a multitude of quotations from Duchamp himself are woven through the text, adding invaluable insights into his thinking, work and influence. Newly commissioned collage illustrations introduce each letter of the alphabet and accompany select entries, capturing the irreverent spirit of the artist himself.
The Duchamp Dictionary is published amidst a spate of global exhibitions celebrating the 100th anniversary of the readymade in 2013–15.
“It’s about time that a publication reveals the vastness of Duchamp’s influence and thinking in the 20th and 21st centuries. I have absolute praise for Girst’s achievement with this historic publication.” Jeff Koons
“Girst elegantly unravels the skeins of Duchamp’s thinking. ‘The Duchamp Dictionary’isanessentialcompendiumforpuzzlingoutanessentialartist.” Richard Armstrong, Director Guggenheim Museum and Foundation
Thomas Girst has written extensively on modern and contemporary art and was founding editor of Tout-Fait: The Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journal and author of The Indefinite Duchamp. He curated ‘Marcel Duchamp in Munich 1912’ at the Lenbachhaus, Munich (2012). He has been Head of Cultural Engagement at the BMW Group since 2003. Luke Frost and Therese Vandling are illustrators, printmakers and graphic designers. Together they form part of Heretic, an experimental illustration and screen-printing studio founded in 2005.
