Dadaism and Conceptual Art: Marcel Duchamp

In today’s society, we are constantly being bombarded with visual art forms. Whether they be classical paintings from the Renaissance, a towering and modern skyscraper, or even a cheesy 90’s R&B music video, they all have one thing in common. According to Carolyn Dean’s definition, these would all fall under the category of “art by intention.” In her essay “The Trouble with (The Term) Art” she advocates a distinction between art by intention and what she deems “art by appropriation.” The difference is that one work was created with the intention of being consumed for visual pleasure, while the other was not. However having been educated in the Western school of thought, many art historians cannot help but project their rigid definition of art onto civilizations that may have

The ability to mass reproduce art, not only on canvases but also on coffee mugs, neckties, and posters, also contributes to the value of an artifact. In van Gogh’s case, the many reproductions of his work in these and other forms add to the social value of his original works instead of detracting from it.

Art is able to evoke different feelings and emotions to each person that sets their eyes on it. The act of ‘looking’ is simple, but a lot comes from it. Where the eyes are first drawn to, the duration that the eyes are focused on a specific detail, and the thoughts that flood one’s brain when viewing art is all significant. These actions say more than the piece itself, it reveals emotions of both the artist and the audience. Art can be expressed through infinite forms, but the underlying importance is not with the art itself. It represents a place in time, displaying what was noteworthy to an individual in their own life. It serves as a lasting creation representative of human imagination with the ability to bring out a multitude of emotions from whoever views it. When art is created it represents the creativity of the human mind compacted into a physical object. Art has little usage aside from pure observation, yet it has prevailed throughout time, showing its importance to humanity. Art provides a lens into humanity, showcasing the human ability over time. When studied through history, art is a view into the development of humans and their interests. Through something as basic as commonly using symmetry to transitioning to asymmetry, the European’s perspective following the Renaissance is revealed. The making of art is solely up to one individual and their creativity. It is the pinnacle of

If the image is no longer unique and exclusive, the art object, the thing, must be made mysteriously so,” (Berger 44). Therefore, the final step in the exploitation of power is mystification of its origins. Over time a concept will build its image and solidify its strength through results, showing the public its value until it becomes integrated and thus, hidden within society. There are several examples of power that has become formally accepted or internalized by the public and it is difficult to see how they exploit power because their origins are mystified. For the concept of originality in art, we can see how its status may have risen because of the definition we give to “originality” rules that have commercial purposes or vice versa. Some examples include companies that have copyright issues to protect names and identities that belong to them, or schools that incorporate rules about plagiarism. The idea of originality has already become internalized within our society that assigning a market meaning with it, just seems natural. If our judicial system has already incorporated ideas of “originality”, then not many people will see any problems with it. However, it is important to look at the origins and realize how a power came to be to prevent it from being exploited. Another covert concept integrated within society

Art by its nature is a subject of the philosophical, social, economic, political or religious context surrounding its creator. More often than not, a work of art addresses a specific topic or somewhat revolves around a particular person. Therefore, it is impossible to separate the context of a piece of painting, either historical or cultural, to its intrinsic value or the artwork's meaning. On the other hand, different cultures and time utilized specific conventions that govern the representation of objects of creativity. This essay highlights various pieces of art and their relationship to particular cultural, political, economic, or social settings. Moreover, it pinpoints how different times influence art presentation.

Throughout human history people used to capture the reality of their time, express their feelings and share their impressions by copying both literally or figurative the mundane. The so-called artists have had different impacts in society all along the centuries. Only a few are currently taught in school, although the reverberation of their work is still impregnated in XXI Century. Nowadays, the term ‘artist’ can be used in reference of painters, sculptors, writers, singers, choreographers and other professions whose production are considered valuable culturally speaking. One of the main problems is that their work produce such a magnificent impact on the audience the artist is set aside and usually forgotten as a person, so they feel their rights to be violated.

Salvador Dali is one of the most famous surrealist artists. His artwork is fascinating to look at and analyze. All of his work is very imaginative, rendered at a high level of realism, and is filled with extensive symbolism. First I will talk about the history of Surrealism, then how Dali studied and admired Sigmund Freud's theories which greatly influenced his art, he used Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of dream interpretation to invent a technique for his work, and then using this technique he painted his bizarre dreams.

The earliest forms of art had made it’s mark in history for being an influential and unique representation of various cultures and religions as well as playing a fundamental role in society. However, with the new era of postmodernism, art slowly deviated away from both the religious context it was originally created in, and apart from serving as a ritual function. Walter Benjamin, a German literary critic and philosopher during the 1900’s, strongly believed that the mass production of pieces has freed art from the boundaries of tradition, “For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependance on ritual” (Benjamin 1992). This particular excerpt has a direct correlation with

Re-made and re-carved works have been around for hundreds of years as artists take inspiration from whom the original was recreated. In Roman art history, certain artists would re-make Roman portraits to honor those before them. However, this was not always the case as individuals would destroy and damage art as a damnation of memory. What determined our understanding of the specific work depended on why the remade or re-carved work was created. These re-made and re-carved artworks revealed a deeper meaning about the individual, culture and the society for whom the original was recreated.

The essays by Berger and Benjamin are similar in several ways in the sense that they follow a common theme and put forward similar arguments. Mechanical reproduction changed the way we view and experience art. Their perspectives on the reproduction of art changed our thinking and feelings for what it can bring.

Since the beginning of art, typical mediums have consisted of oil paints, marble, pastels, and charcoals. As time has progressed, and aesthetics have changed, so has the extensive list of mediums found in art. One medium in particular, known as the use of “found objects” has become increasingly more popular since the days of the Renaissance. Found object art can be as straightforward as Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain,” which is a urinal fountain that is simply orientated sideways and signed; this, bordering the line between art and an object from everyday life, brings forth many questions and lots of public controversy. Art has always caused this same controversy, but one main argument frequently surrounding found objects is the extent unto which the piece must be abstracted or reincorporated in order to be considered “art.”

The field of art history, like any discipline, is a wide and varied area of study. There are seemingly thousands of ways to interpret works of art and their places in history. Each has their own pros and cons and can greatly help to understand art and art-objects. In this semester’s Introduction to Art History course, we learned three different approaches art historians take when interpreting works of art: an object-oriented view, an artist-centered view, and an approach through medium. These approaches generally fall within one of two categories. The approaches through object and medium focus on readily apparent cues and symbols in the art object being studied. These approaches rely less on a study of history and more on visual evidence. The

The idea of “genius” manifests itself everywhere. When people look at art nowadays, the pieces themselves aren’t the focal point. Instead, the name of the artist holds the most value. Whether society deems them a genius or not impacts the response radically. The Bauhaus school of thought, as well as the De Stijl movement, attempted to combat this ingrained mindset.

In 1915 the concept of “readymade” art was introduced by Marcel Duchamp when he took an ordinary snow shovel and painted the title In advance of the broken arm. He had previously turned a wheel up-side down and attached it to a stool, creating a piece he called Bicycle wheel. This was also considered a “readymade.” A “readymade” by Duchamp is “an ordinary object elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the mere choice of an artist.” Duchamp produced many of these “readymades,” but it his readymade entitled Fountain that we will be discussing here. Duchamp’s Fountain originated from a urinal that he with two other friends purchased from a plumber, took to his studio, and turned it on its backside. He painted the pseudonym “R. Mutt” on

In a ‘tradition breaking spirit’ [D’Alleva, 2012], that characterised modernist artists, early in the twentieth century, Duchamp abandoned traditional ideas and techniques, to create a new kind of ‘art’, one that the idea behind a work of art is more important that its visual realization, the ‘retinal’. The ready-mades was the product of Duchamp’s questioning what art is.