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21

Duchamp was born and raised in France. In 1915, in his

late twenties, he came to live in New York. Duchamp

made a number of noteworthy paintings and sculp-

tures, but his major preoccupation was making art that

questioned the philosophical premises of the domain

of art itself. Duchamp asked through his art: Do artists

really have to fabricate art artifacts with their own

hands? Are certain materials more suitable than others

for making art? What makes an artwork different from

those things that look similar but are not works of art?

And what, really, is art?

During his first decade in the United States, Duchamp

worked diligently on what he hoped would be his

masterpiece, an artwork that incorporated elements of

painting, sculpture, and collage. It was constructed out

of varnish, oil paint, lead film, dust, cracked glass, and

aluminum foil―and was altogether encased in a wood

and steel frame. It was titled “The Bride Stripped Bare

by Her Bachelors, Even.” (It was also known as “The

Large Glass.”)