Marcel Duchamp interview on Art and Dada (1956)

Filmed amidst the Arensberg collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where 35 works by Marcel Duchamp are gathered, this 1956 interview features the artist talking with James Johnson Sweeney, former director of the Guggenheim Museum.
Check out these Duchamp books on Amazon!
The Essential Duchamp: geni.us/aU4F
The Writings of Marcel Duchamp: geni.us/8vuDA
Dialogues With Duchamp: geni.us/U1A3
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Duchamp describes his transition away from Impressionism toward a Cubist, and then post-Cubist, approach, providing commentary while standing before Nude Descending a Staircase (“I was not aware of Italian Futurism when I painted it”) and The Large Glass (“The two crackings are symmetrically arranged and there is…almost an intention there…a ready-made intention, in other words, that I respect and love.”). These concepts are paradoxically, although quite logically, articulated alongside his desire for “dryness” and mechanical precision. Viewers also gain insight into Duchamp’s thoughts on painting for an “ideal” public-a notion he clearly distinguishes from ivory-tower elitism.
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[@ManufacturingIntellect]

Check out these Duchamp books on Amazon! The Essential Duchamp: geni.us/aU4F The Writings of Marcel Duchamp: geni.us/8vuDA Dialogues With Duchamp: geni.us/U1A3 Join us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/Manufacturing... Donate Crypto! commerce.coinbase.com/checkout/868d67d2-1628-44a8-b8dc-8f9616d62259 Free Audible Trial with Two Free Audiobooks: amzn.to/2LBdkZl Checking out the affiliate links above helps me bring even more high quality videos by earning me a small commission! And if you have any suggestions for future content, make sure to subscribe on the Patreon page. Thank you for your support!

[@SA-sm8ys]

Hello, I was wondering if you could please upload all the interviews Peggy Noonan did on Charlie Rose's show over the years. I think she did 6 or 7 interviews. Thank you.

[@ManufacturingIntellect]

@@SA-sm8ys I'll definitely get those up. It takes time to color correct and upscale those, but I'll add it to my list. I also have a Patreon! If you decide to support me there, I'll find even more rare and unreleased videos. Either way, thank you for watching!

[@jimmyboombox7460]

You run a great channel. Just wondering what the best way to contact you is for business or other inquiries? Thanks.

[@ManufacturingIntellect]

@@jimmyboombox7460 what's the inquiry?

[@sylviefijalkowska1053]

Hello there, this is a great piece of archive footage: would you be able to allow me to put an extract from it, with credit to you of course, in an online educational (non-profit) journal article about Duchamp, and maybe use a screenshot? best regards, Krzysztof

[@bksug2009]

"I believe that art is the only form of activity in which man, as man, shows himself to be a true individual and is capable of going beyond the animal state. Because art is an outlet towards regions which are not ruled by time and space."

[@johndoe1765]

That's very well expressed.

[@jonjoyk5130]

Excellent!

[@spactick]

If there is no "time and space" (your term) then there is no art bksug2009. Your thoughts (which is what I presume your talking about) are a pretext for that "subject" that exists in "time and space"

[@garypuckettmuse]

AMEN! Thanks for picking up on that because it's everything.

[@edoardogreco8153]

@@spacticki totally agree with you, but you have to remember that we are talking under a video documentary of a guy that took a broken glass put it in a museum and claimed it was a piece of art (created by him), and people still agree... logic and this kind of "art" are completely apart

[@anniemihn]

Fantastic video. I never thought I'd be hearing one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and a huge idol of mine explaining his work in his own words. It's surprising to me how affable and soft spoken he seems since I always had the impression that Duchamp would be sort of a cold and silent man, judging for his impeccably conceived conceptual work. It was a revelation for me. Thank you so much for this gem.

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

I always thought he wouls be friendly, if reserved; but here at least, he appears quite friendly and approachable.

[@somethingsomething2907]

Thank you from the twenty seven thousand souls who were lucky enough to be recommended this insurmountably rich material

[@emmalichious08]

He is my great, great, great grandpa. I have been doing research in my family. My grandpa is George Duchamp and all of this is so interesting.

[@flinchey6962]

That’s amazing, he’s The Godfather of conceptual art Andy Warhol loved his work, definitely one of my favorite

[@carlosdesantis1094]

Kalopsia I really really will appreciate to know more of your history about the great Marcel Duchamp. You can write me whenever you want, it will be really helpfull for my information in arts wich I am finishing my studies. thnx

[@maijanahte5456]

He is my great great great uncle! Does this mean we are distant relatives?!

[@jackbennett9040]

that is SO cool

[@jonathanb6911]

I am Duchamp's father

[@Sandy-ge6wo]

Can I just say how much I love this channel, and the genuine effort that is apparent in making such a wide variety of culture available to us. Thank you so much for everything on here, I've been watching and learning since I was a lot younger and still come back to it :,)

[@jackx7582]

Me 2

[@benverringer4117]

Absolutely one of the greatest innovators in arts history. Completely changed the way the world viewed art.

[@IbrahimMuhammad_114]

YEAH RIGHT

[@matthewmclaughlin4787]

Absolutely fantastic. Not only is the guy clearly brilliant but unlike many artists, he comes across as quite open and willing to speak about art and his own works. LOVED this video! Thank you so much.

[@aggelosgr4563]

Interviewer was great too! Let's give him some credit.

[@magnuskallas]

I love those older artist interviews where part of it is set up like a nice little accidental visit by a friend, yet obviously partly scripted! Look up some Brel, Picasso, Warhol and even Bukowski or Cohen ones up for this cosy yet critical feeling.

[@maijanahte5456]

Marcel Duchamp is my great great great uncle, my great grandmas maiden name is Duchamp. This is amazing to find, I’m so grateful and blessed to see my relative in his prime!

[@dudleypaints]

Gaugin told me not to name drop

[@rosemariebarrientos]

Thank you for posting this. What a joy to hear Marcel Duchamp!

[@jianingwang8220]

I can't believe that I have been watched this video for three times and never skiped one word..

[@danwest9900]

Thank you for sharing this! I am loving learning about art and the lives of the artists. Wonderful!

[@DEROERIS]

What a fascinating man, what a great video this is, enjoyed so much! Thanks for showing this!

[@AudioPervert1]

The guy was so far ahead of the time, even today. He said "make art for people 100 years in the future..." Amaze

[@earlrobicheaux2632]

Beautiful. Many thanks for posting.

[@vinylisland6386]

For a Frenchman his impeccable English is truly remarkable.

[@j0nnyism]

You mean for a French speaker. Frenchman aren’t known for their terrible English

[@Johnconno]

Well, it's Marcel Duchamp. Did you expect grunted American English? 😊

[@Psookpy]

@@j0nnyism he must think most Frenchman sound like some cigarette smoking, mustache twirling, baguette eating hon hon honnnnnn cartoon character 🤷‍♂️

[@VioletDeliriums]

Either it is "impeccable" or it is "not impeccable." This qualifier you add -- "for a Frenchman" -- is unneeded.

[@VioletDeliriums]

@@j0nnyism You mean "francophone," not "French speaker."

[@moongloomable]

Amazing video. Thanks for sharing. I can't imagine a time when this was on national TV.

[@_ata_3]

Thanks for uploading this. It is great to hear about his art from his own words. I love what he has done and I'm grateful for it.

[@murraykriner9425]

With as prolific as this man was in his life time it is so touching to hear his personal philosophies expounded in such clear and concise fashion. There is no affectation in his mein, no tottering tower of obsolescence waiting to fall over. Marcel Du Champ is human being first, and only an creative master of his own personal view. Lovely video content. You must be very proud to own it.

[@StephanBreuerFLYING]

Srating at 28' he ends this interview on a superb note so hyper conceptual that truly captures his essence

[@aminoto-3]

The “nude descending a staircase” has always been one of my favourite paintings, it doesn’t matter how much I have looked at it, I am always seeing something different in the motion of the figure..

[@VictorPerez-df8zy]

It's like a roll of pictures one by one. Cubism mixed with futurism, a truly great piece of work.

[@DNBon.an808]

I relate to what you're saying, the painting took my breath away the first time i saw it

[@hazelwray4184]

Each time, you see something different in the motion. But essentially you intuit motion.

[@joejones9520]

my favorite thing is to imagine how people upon hearing the title would secretly be harboring prurient thoughts in anticipation of viewing it and then; the disappointment!

[@patio87]

Futurism is by far the best that modern art has to offer.

[@1cathexis]

Great find! A huge influence often (and unjustly) neglected these days. Thank you! ("checked" your links too).

[@nolanherbut484]

thank you for uploading this

[@rtisom]

What a treat to hear the great artist discussing his work. His command of the English language, especially bearing in mind the time in question, is quite remarkable. I wish I knew his biography well enough to understand what is going on, most certainly there is an interesting back story here. The average French intellectual from that era pretended to profess a certain disdain for our language. He is quite idiomatic. What a genius

[@bobb1870]

I remember seeing these works in the museum. All worth the time to visit and see.

[@veloopity]

a wonderful document, and I didn't know what a nice guy he was. The interviewer also showed an impressive knowledge

[@jakeniemiec8559]

Wow it was amazing to hear him speak! It was awesome to hear what the object sounds like inside the ball of twine; I've always been curious as to what it sounds like.

[@user-kf7ls1oj9i]

Wonderful, simply wonderful.

[@______9322]

Excellent video. A revelation.

[@diegoramirez7510]

This is my favourite video in all KZbin

[@arnoldwohler]

From the Artists themselves we learn most About what art is About ...

[@middayz]

The last part of the film is so beautiful when he says that art is the expression of a believe in life that becomes the symbol of all you know, or something like that. The magician in the TarOt deck

[@nathanmaaka1631]

Always loved Duchamp what a treat the godfather of modern artistic expression & readymade and attempt to make museums less powerful

[@natalya6091]

Such a lovely video.Thank you for uploading.🇷🇺

[@carolabelenvillegas3919]

Pensé que iba a hablar en francés cuando hice click en el video (yo estaba medio asustada de perderme algún detalle), pero habló en inglés😳 Estoy fascinada (y agradecida; mi francés es mediocre) por esa facilidad que tienen tantas personas para hablar tan bien otros idiomas.

[@ameliekc97]

Wow c’est tellement précieux ces vidéos 🥹 ce gas c’est LE GÉNI du 20 ème siècle il avait des années d’avance sur tout ! Depuis 25 ans que j’adore son art Marcel c’est juste l’artiste que j’aurais rêvé de rencontrer ! Son anglais est 👌👌👌

[@haimbenavraham1502]

A thinking artist that 'cracked' me up.

[@antoniopotro1739]

Wow. Thank you for sharing this material. Duchamp is such a free thinker. The only thing I don't like about this recording is the military interrogator who keeps interrupting Duchamp. Although Duchamp handles those well, and they even lead to more interesting answers.

[@stephenhanson3309]

finally, a documentary on the most important artist of the 20th C

[@spactick]

"the" most important? maybe "one" of the most important, but there were others (Matisse, Picasso, Pollack, Mondrian etc;) whose work has a far greater following than Duchamp. Heck I'd even give a nod to Edward Hopper as having a bigger following

[@stephenhanson3309]

@@spactick true as far as greater following, i was speaking more on influencing the thought process of other artists, not popularity. certainly there is a long list of more popular or well known.

[@spactick]

@@stephenhanson3309 perhaps, but I think a lot of Duchamp's "thought processes" were dead ends. Obviously the intellectual elites that write the reviews in the magazines etc; loved Marcel, but the average museum person get's lost in the translation. A urinal just doesn't have the same appeal with Mr. Jones and his wife and kiddies that a Picasso's "rose period" has. But I'm just guessing. Maybe if ya gold leafed the urinal?

[@SandySelorme]

What an interesting artist!!

[@MicoAquinoComposer]

This is one of the reasons why I love KZbin!

[@djart4866]

A very clear and confident thinker.

[@willalwaystelehandler8450]

Great video Marcel a giant painter

[@Chesterton7]

FANTASTIC.

[@Lyrxial]

I loved Duchamp’s readymades, I did a study on Joseph Cornell during high school and his ‘bird boxes’ assemblages were inspired by Duchamp.

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

still love it!!

[@paulsymanski489]

Such an enigmatic artist.

[@runer007]

I am quite intrigued by Marcel Duchamp. I don't know quite why.

[@lulassong6524]

Just love this guy Duchamp...

[@thembamabona9809]

It's distinctly funny/peculiar/amusing when you hear someone from 1956 say "at that time". This is amazing, I imagined Duchamp's personality completely different (in the negative sense, as one is wont to do, unfortunately).

[@robertschreur5138]

amazing

[@mickmcknight162]

That was really interesting. Marcel Duchamp was ahead of his time.

[@1bit]

The grandfather of conceptual art

[@SoopSoopa]

Father is enough no?:)

[@cesarmorion]

great artist and man

[@tachiseika8210]

12:35 The discussion of Marcel’s core idea for his working

[@xclusivon1676]

Thank you for this

[@Billart]

I uniquely carefully videoed 2 major DuChamp shows in tbe mid 90''s, one at Jack Tilton Gallery then in SoHo & the other on the upper east side. I also videoed a famous crirtic & collector in SoHo. Intriguing & well done creative interview. Best thing about Duchamp I've ever seen. This great high level exchange I'd completely somehow missed being aware of until now. I've done several Duchamp inspired images on Facebook & abour to do an ambitious recognizable portrait - but future oriented in breaking boundaries. 10-09-21

[@moongloomable]

KZbin would love to see those videos if you feel like uploading them.

[@gavinreid5387]

Interesting that both examples of Ready Mades that he shows would not be considered Ready-mades now ,because he adds elements making them closer to assemblages.

[@jeffdawson2786]

Duchamp and “Nude Descending A Staircase” are synonyms. It’s like petrified chronophotography, implying movement, almost fluttering, yet heavy at the same time. Like Eadweard Muybridge superimposed.

[@jimzucker]

what a great man

[@joejones9520]

This is a man who knew Baroness Elsa well, amazing.

[@sandratomboloni5519]

GRANDE ,GRANDE ,GRANDE!

[@debajyoti.guha_bong]

Unparallel genius of being.

[@conorsullivan8108]

Thanks Marcel, you saw the greatness in the mover's error

[@CarlosRodriguez-cj8oo]

Many can't understand what an off the wall and creative guy Marcel was! In short he created an alter ego, Rrose Sélavy. And apparently you could call him up and request he come out as her! It must have been so much fun hanging with him, especially in the early Dada days.

[@mathematicalpoetry4066]

When looking at the large glass you can see this little window that Duchamp had the museum cut into the wall. From the outside of the museum, it looks very odd - like some sort of an architectural mistake. Duchamp obviously possessed a lot of power to be able to pull that off. Furthermore, I am happy that he did wield such power.

[@Sickkities]

Wow what is that first acoustic song at the end? that was beautiful

[@maxsonthonax1020]

"So here you are, Marcel!" 🤣

[@garetcrossman6626]

It's funny how they are virtually shouting at eachother, particularly the interviewer (unless he was told that Marcel is a bit deaf). It's almost tangible that despite conversing toward eachother, they're really addressing the viewer.

[@richardauzier8979]

meu deus do ceu....que maravilha

[@alainrolland69]

believing is an art

[@jamesbatty2041]

love the way he dresses

[@gabrielpoire]

increíble. Lamentablemente solo subtitulado hasta 13.30

[@thomnull9759]

Duchamp: I have to take a piss. Interviewer: Are you saying that society is squeezing the small intestine of your artistic self-expression? That Shakespeare was really three little people in an overcoat with a derby? That society cradles you as a surrogate mother?

[@scottcarson6014]

Brilliant! Thank you.

[@perisos3891]

No man ill just take a huge rocket shit

[@bernardjharmsen304]

Piss is a fluid readymade.

[@garypuckettmuse]

I have absolute synesthesia when I look at Nude Descending a Staircase. It is truly electrifying for me. And I love him saying that he had said everything he needed to say about Cubism when he painted that. And it is ironic that this work is really the pinnacle of Futurism even though he didn't know about futurism at the time. Andy Warhol idolized him -- I don't think he would have given Mr. Warhol a second sniff -- so gauche and oversold and one note compared to Duchamp! Thank you so much for posting this Manufacturing Intellect.

[@indoorgangster]

Warhol was notorious for taking artists in, only to steal their concepts and work. a master manipulator and factually nothing but a thieving marketeer of some sort (which somehow is considered, or mistaken for, by some as being revolutionary). Duchamp however, left the art world for years, taking a job teaching because he felt he couldn't contribute to art in a meaningful way at that moment in his life. that is a fundamental difference in their approach to art. by analyzing and deconstructing their work and careers that becomes painfully obvious.

[@garypuckettmuse]

@@indoorgangster Well, then we agree for the most part. I have to say that I'm not totally unconvinced that Warhol wasn't just tweaking the noses of the hoi polloi and the art world and quite prescient -- in the future people will pay in the tens and hundreds of millions for garbage "art" like mine because they are vacuous and narcissistic and stupid and culture is dead, art is dead and "humanity" is on it's last leg. The whole crappy Warhol circus and the crappy art was all his commentary on society. "In the future everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes". While a Campbell's soup can will live on in our hearts and minds . . . The rich society women thought they were slumming with him and he thought he was slumming with them. He saw through everything and seemed to have that sociopathic personality type that found it amusing because it didn't hurt his feelings to watch the end of our current civilization play itself off the stage . . . he truly didn't care and as we all know, he loved to watch. Duchamp's last project on the other hand, while being about "watching" was perhaps the ultimate violence and psychological intrusion on his ex-lover. Certainly as malevolent as any of Warhol's pranks (like inviting people over to overdose on heroin as entertainment for rich ladies from the Upper East Side). I think Warhol looked up to Duchamp's great work but also his *time*. Warhol was too late to be a Duchamp. Everything was overexposed and cheap and trashy in his day whereas Duchamp had such a rich cultural landscape on which to play. I think Warhol would laugh to see his soup can on coffee mugs -- that's the joke he was going for precisely. I think of him as a sociologist, comedian, social commentator and philosopher, trickster, court clown and all that is an art. Wow this is long. sorry.

[@markthompson6007]

thanks for your effort Duchamp is so all encompassing for pushing and mirroring every art movement in the 20th c. The part on the Mona Lisa readymade could have been more complete with putting the "art at the service of the mind" had it been revealed that L.H.O.O.Q. is a french pun "elle au chaud aux cul" means "she's hot in the ass" i love you marcel you always knew how to make everything so much more than most folks would even pick up on...

[@morganfisherart]

As you wrote it wrongly twice - may I correct you? "Elle a chaud au cul."

[@jonathanb6911]

Due to our jade and grant, we'll never be able to truly appreciate the conceptual ideologies and the emotional sensitivity required therin of this time in art, however it's wonderful to hear such a succinct conversation from a fundamental piece responsible for so much of what we understand as our modern culture so far after the fact.

[@schappiness]

oh Duchamp, one of the smartest and greatest minds in art. Huge respect!

[@jean-francoisbrunet2031]

Bad subtitle at 2:34, James Johnson Sweeney says in French about the nude, and Duchamp repeats: "succès de scandale" (success through scandal) (not "c'est de scandal" which does not mean anything).

[@perisos3891]

Thank you mane

[@pappsco54]

Thank you......R.mutt.

[@gavinreid5387]

Significantly no mention of Fountain, a work almost completely unknown at this point.

[@nicolascalderoli711]

Gran vídeo. Pero el subtítulo en español llega hasta el minuto catorse. Luego de eso no hsy más subtítulo...

[@gregorysavchenko4915]

He was so ahead of his time...

[@mindfulmaximalist9962]

wow

[@yellowbearanimations]

15:11 time stamping this for myself to refer to later

[@StanfordFan-jn1dp]

he played a wicked game of chess

[@marcoscastillojaen1888]

Un tipo muy inteligente.

[@christopherdennis4280]

The intellect is too dry a word. It is too inexpressive. Believe. To live is to believe.

[@eliasrezzori]

He lived. His way. Not everybody wants or can get his expression....

[@curvvi3298]

28:08 famous quote

[@shuieiseli6772]

poor girl 😢. Rrose, my darling, you deserved better

[@TheAmanov]

27:47 "I don't like the word intellect", and the video is shared by "Manufacturing Intellect" channel

[@redoktopus3047]

i feel like we haven't had a change in painting since he made "nude descending a staircase" or in sculpture since "the fountain". In nude descending a staircase, it's like he took all the abstraction required to paint something (planes, cylinders, etc.), combined them with comic-book indications (dashed lines, outlines, etc.), used them to represent the form of an overlayed set of photos, and then treated those things not as 2D on the canvas but 3D in space made of real material and only then made a painting of *that*. Like to represent the surface of a leg you approximate it as a plane. Easy, painters do this all the time. But he says "ok, but to approximate a plane you could draw a parallelogram with an outline". So he does that. But then because his subject is a bunch of over-laid photos you get all these interactions and you approximate those overlapping, composite shapes. And then he takes the motion lines that are used in illustration along with the one that appear in the composite image and says "Well what if those were outlining planes or discs? And what if those planes and discs were themselves abstractions of real surfaces?" and then paints his own abstractions of those imaginary physical shapes! It's insane! I love this painting! And then the idea of what art is, whether is had to be intentional or can be "ready-made", whether the discussion around a piece can be the art, what the purpose of it is, etc. We literally haven't been able to get past this. In no way was Marcel Duchamp the first to do either of these things but he was really, really good at it. Only Agnes Martin has done something equally transformative since this movement, I think.

[@denlillaekorren]

He is as precise with his words as with his art. And he knew we would watch him 70 years later, I can see it in his wry smile. We are his true audience that finally understood his art

[@Unfunny_Username_389]

6:30 - wow...interesting. I thought he was aware of Futurism.

[@polmorgan3533]

Interesting the Monty Carlo thing he really invented the NFT

[@Kelly-fk3oi]

It would be interesting to x-ray the ball of twine to see what is inside.🕵

[@BhanuPartap-zl3eg]

Nice 🙏🙏🗡️👌🗡️

[@petecherry4908]

“Man is not an animal”…que Phillip Seymour Hoffmans character in the master

[@veganpeace_ATX]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@Steve-hu7jf]

KZbin is art

[@Harold710]

Was a bit hard to understand what the interviewer was getting at.