Duchamp-Isms

A collection of provocative quotations from one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century

Duchamp-isms is a selection of illuminating quotations from Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), one of the most important figures in the history of modern art. A painter, sculptor, writer, and chess player, Duchamp changed the very definition of art with his "readymades"--everyday objects such as a bicycle wheel or bottle rack that he titled, signed, and presented as art. He provoked critics and the public with works such as the Cubist-Futurist painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912) and Fountain (1917), a readymade composed of a men's urinal signed "R. Mutt." Prizing the intellectual over the aesthetic, Duchamp inspired later movements like Minimalism, Conceptualism, and Pop Art. Delightful and witty, Duchamp-isms offers rich insights into the mind of a true icon of modern art.

The quotes in Duchamp-isms, drawn primarily from interviews, have been selected and introduced by Francis Naumann, a leading authority on Duchamp, and organized in eight thematic sections: philosophies of art; painting; Dada and Surrealism; the readymades; chess; literary influences; commercialism in art; and philosophies of life and death. The book also features a brief chronology of Duchamp's life and career.

• "I have always had a horror of being a 'professional' painter. The minute you become that, you are lost."
• "Humor and laughter--not necessarily derogatory derision--are my pet tools. This may come from my general philosophy of never taking the world too seriously--for fear of dying of boredom."
• "Art can never be adequately defined, because the translation of an aesthetic emotion into a verbal description is as inaccurate as your description of fear when you have been actually scared."
• "Art never saved the world. It cannot."

Author: Larry Warsh
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 03/10/2026
Pages: 152
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 5.40h x 4.20w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780691274485

About the Author
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was a French painter, sculptor, writer, and chess player whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. His work is in the permanent collections of many leading museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Centre Georges Pompidou. Larry Warsh has been active in the art world for more than thirty years as a publisher and artist-collaborator. He was a founding member of the Basquiat Authentication Committee and is the editor of many books, including Jean-Michel Basquiat's The Notebooks, Ono-isms, Warhol-isms, and Weiwei-isms (all Princeton). Francis M. Naumann is an art historian, curator, and former art dealer who specializes in Dada and Surrealist art. His books include New York Dada 1915-25, Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, and The Recurrent, Haunting Ghost: Essays on the Art, Life, and Legacy of Marcel Duchamp.