Marcel Duchamp's Art And The Geography Of Modern Paris

Dadaism is a movement in art that desires to upturn convention. The artists of this movement seek to challenge the way that patrons view their pieces in contrast to previous art movements. Although most of Marcel Duchamp’s working career was in the Dadaism art movement his work, inspired by the avant-garde, pushed through to inspire the Surrealism movement. In “Marcel Duchamp’s Art and the Geography of Modern Paris” by Dr. James Housefield, he examines the works of Duchamp and the significance they had.
Marcel Duchamp spent the first 17 years of his life in Normandy with his affluent family. During the time there he learned to paint with his mother and brothers. The family’s love of impressionism guided his work during those years. Eventually, he went to Paris to study painting and learned about the modern aspects of art. This is where he discovered and fell in love with the avant-garde movement in Paris as well as symbolism. Due to the ridicule of his art by patrons and peers is Paris, he moved to New York where is art was more accepted and widely discussed.

This emphasized that the viewers perspective and state of mind could translate the pieces in a multitude of ways. There is not one way to view or interpret art. Duchamp’s art and vision have helped to transform the esthetic view of art to one of more intellectual than that of simple beauty. That an everyday object can trigger a memory of something seen or felt, whether it be man-made or natural, monumental or fleeting. That a spoon is not merely a spoon.
Housefield’s examination of Marcel Duchamp’s art and its correlation to the Parisian landscape give the reader a greater understanding of Duchamp’s vision and origin of his ready-made works. He clearly explains the significance of Duchamp’s contributions to this particular art movement and lends to helping the viewer’s interpretation of his