What Is Art? The Marcel Duchamp Retrospective
By Carlos Mesa
Imagine a world where art is not defined by the artist’s ability to maneuver their brush across a canvas or shape clay and stone into a sculpture, but rather by the artistic mind’s ability to take already made objects and put them into context to create art. This is the world of Marcel Duchamp, who pioneered the “Readymade.”
Readymade art emerged when Duchamp began rejecting “retinal” art. He believed art should serve more to stimulate the mind rather than the eye. He got mass-produced objects that were readily available to most people and put them together to create something totally new. He believed that an item could become art as long as the artist decided it was.
Though he was heavily criticized and infamous in the late 1800s and early 1900s, he is, in our modern day, one of the most influential figures in art history, having overhauled our society’s expectations and perception of art. He wanted to challenge and redefine what art meant, and the conversation that came from his work changed art forever, for the better or for the worse.
Today, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) honor his legacy by holding the Marcel Duchamp Retrospective, funded mostly by Bank of America. MoMA’s retrospective ended this past August, while the PMA’s rendition is still running from October 10 to January 31, 2027. The retrospective looks back on Duchamp’s contributions and how the Readymade helped bring about later art and culture movements.
Duchamp’s art is also a direct rejection of the concept of an “original” piece. During Duchamp’s time, the rich and famous were infatuated with the concept of having the original version of an artwork. Even today, when art is largely digital, we try to artificially create the concept of an “original” through NFTs and other forms of commercial art exchange.
Duchamp’s use of mass-produced materials argued that an object uniform to millions of others holds the same value as a hand-crafted original. It is seen in modern art movements nowadays that artists repeat the same idea of subverting the concept of an “original” through pieces like “Comedian” by Maurizio Cattelan and “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross) by Félix González-Torres.
“I feel like the difference in between that is more of a thought process for traditional art than the Readymade art, because for traditional art, you have to actually put your mind to it. And either from a reference or something else, and then for the Readymade art, that’s just your creative mind, really,” said sophomore Amberosia Costoso.
The controversy around the Readymade still exists today. Though abstract forms of art like the Readymade are more accepted, some artists feel like placing pre-made objects together can never match up to raw artisanal talent, while others believe that the Readymade helped expand what “art” actually means and make art more accessible.
Whether their art is more traditional or abstract, every artist, from established professionals to young aspiring artists and art students, can look to Duchamp’s work as an inspiration and a voice telling them that their art is just as valuable as any other, no matter how unconventional it may be. Duchamp opened up the world to artists who might’ve otherwise been pushed onto the sidelines.
Artists of all kinds come to MLEC for our Commercial Arts strand. Regardless of their methods or the mediums they use, aspiring artists at MLEC take inspiration from pieces that may not even exist without Duchamp’s advancements in art.
“I think it’s difficult because as an artisan, I definitely create things from scratch. Calling an item art just because the artist says it’s art. I mean, I think it really blurs the lines. I don’t really think I can give a solidified answer because I do believe that anything can be art, but at the same time, I make my own art and call it art. So I think that that might just be subjective to the artist,” said senior Rachel Vasco.
The retrospective exhibits many of his works alongside works created by other artists. By doing this, it proves that Duchamp had the last laugh when it came to his belief about art. It proves that, even today, art still relies just as much on context and selection as it does on craftsmanship. The very controversy that the retrospective creates in itself is proof that Readymades are art, highlighting that art is based upon cultural debate and exchange of context and commentary.
Marcel Duchamp was more than an artist; rather, he was an activist. The Marcel Duchamp Retrospective is treated like a time capsule, sometimes as a timeline showing how we got to where we are now, but it is truly a mirror, reflecting our culture back through the past.
