Keywords: art concept materials destroy creation
Duchamp's destructive power to traditional art rules is amazing. He attacked traditional art from the aspects of artistic concept, materials and production skills. Duchamp's powerful destructive power completely disintegrated the traditional aesthetic system that was on the verge of collapse. His weapon of attacking traditional art rules became the target of post-modern artists after World War II, guiding their direction. While destroying the old aesthetic system, he created new artistic ideas and styles, and his admirers also established a new aesthetic system based on his artistic ideas, although this may not be his original intention.
First, Duchamp's artistic view
Duchamp struggled with the existing norms all his life and was unwilling to join any form of group. Because of his advanced thinking and behavior, people at that time could not understand him. For example, in that era when easel painting was popular and many artists were keen on revolution on canvas, he gave up painting at 1923. In the following years, he would rather spend his time playing chess and occasionally launching his own "ready-made" works, and never set foot in the field of painting again.
In fact, Duchamp is very different from those early modernist arts. He is not satisfied with the "formal revolution" on canvas like other contemporary artists. Duchamp believes that the value of a work of art lies in that it is a "symbol" to convey ideas, which can force the viewer to think actively and participate creatively. He wants art to gain a spiritual power beyond visual senses. Duchamp's ready-made art is based on these views. He believes that artists can not participate in the production process of artistic works, but only need to choose ordinary industrial products and make them symbolic and meaningful. This concept was obviously intolerable to most artists at that time, because both traditional artists and modern artists were imitating or creating an object defined as "art" in a certain form, which was different from daily necessities in skill, craft and interest. Before Duchamp, no one doubted this. Duchamp completely destroyed the definition of "art" at that time, blurred the boundary between art and non-art, and introduced some objects and concepts that people thought were "non-art" into art. In Duchamp's artistic concept, it is possible for an artist to "symbolize" and "make sense" anything made by anyone or machine, and make it convey the artist's concept.
Duchamp's advanced ideas only pursue the transmission of artistic ideas, ignoring the production skills and process of art, thus creating a new era of modern art.
Second, Duchamp's use of materials
Duchamp constantly questioned various existing rules in his artistic career, which not only laid his artistic foundation, but also inspired him to attack traditional art. Giving up easel painting is an important anti-traditional move, accompanied by his anti-traditional art view. Since we want to give up traditional painting, it means looking for a new art media to fight against the traditional art media represented by pigments and canvases. Duchamp made many new attempts in the choice of materials, that is, from him, the materials and means of modern art have been continuously enriched, completely getting rid of the limitations of traditional materials.
Duchamp's materials for making works of art are often common items in daily life. For example, his work "Hidden Noise" in 19 16 consists of a hemp rope ball sandwiched between two metal plates engraved with words. There is an object in the hemp rope ball that can make a sound that only artists know. There is also a famous work "Big Glass", which makes all critics very depressed and it is difficult for people to explain its meaning clearly. Duchamp gave an exciting title to this humble work: "The bride was even stripped naked by a bachelor". The combination of materials he used in this work is unprecedented. He sandwiched some silk thread and colored metal foil between two large glass plates, and then painted the image where needed with oil paint, and finally completed such a comprehensive material work that was neither sculpture nor painting. The "big glass" is divided into two parts. The upper part is painted with a mechanical thing, and it is difficult to see its specific shape. Duchamp called it the bride; There is a chocolate grinder connected to nine molds. At first glance, the mold looks like a chess piece, representing nine bachelors. The physical characteristics of the upper and lower parts of the work are completely different. In the upper part of the bride machine, the shape of the main body is more or less large or small, which is irregular; In the lower part of the bachelor machine, the main shape is accurate geometry. Duchamp uses these images to imply the relationship between men and women, which is full of sexual hints. This work contains many factors, such as Duchamp's fascination with impersonal machinery and his ridicule of rules.
Whether we can really understand Duchamp's original intention of making these works, it is certain that Duchamp's comprehensive works have successfully broken through the limitations of artistic production materials and greatly expanded the space for artistic expression. Waste art, installation art and pop art that emerged after the war all used various materials, and the diversity of materials used by these art schools was obviously inspired by Duchamp's works.
The above is the best interpretation of Duchamp's artistic career. He is a milestone in the history of modern art, and he fundamentally changed people's artistic concept. Duchamp is a natural skeptic and anti-rulemaker. He overthrew all the existing artistic rules with a more rational attitude. It was his ruthless destruction of traditional artistic rules that freed people from the shackles of traditional artistic concepts and cleared the way for the development of postmodern art in the 20th century, especially in World War II.
References:
[1] Author: Zhang Yuying Social Science Frontier 1999 1.
[2] Author: Cabane (French) Wang Ruiyun Wang Ling interview Duchamp Culture and Art Publishing House 1997-03.