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Duchamp’s Telegram

From Beaux-Arts to Art-in-General
By Thierry de Duve
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In 1917, Marcel Duchamp sent a provocative 'telegram' to the art world by submitting a urinal signed R. Mutt. This act, which was met with both celebration and condemnation, challenged traditional notions of art and is considered a turning point leading to what is now called the 'post-Duchamp' era.

Thierry de Duve offers a fresh reading of this pivotal moment, revealing that Duchamp’s gesture marked the end of the fine arts system and the beginning of the 'Art-in-General' system—a broader concept of art that actually emerged decades earlier, in the 1880s. Rather than being its creator, Duchamp is portrayed as the brilliant messenger of this systemic change.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in modern and contemporary art theory, art history students, and those curious about the conceptual shifts that shaped postmodern art. This book suits scholars and art enthusiasts seeking a deep, thought-provoking examination of Duchamp’s impact.

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A reading of Duchamp's 'telegram' to the art world, a urinal signed R. Mutt.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In 1917, Marcel Duchamp sent out a 'telegram' in the guise of a urinal signed R. Mutt. When it arrived at its destination a good forty years later, it was both celebrated and vilified as proclaiming that anything could be art; from that point on, the whole Western art world reconfigured itself as 'post-Duchamp'.

Duchamp’s Telegram offers a reading of Duchamp's telegram that sheds new light onto its first reception, corrects some historical mistakes, and reveals that Duchamp's urinal, in fact, heralds the demise of the fine arts system and the advent of what Thierry de Duve calls the 'Art-in-General' system. Further, the author shows that this new system does not date from the 1960s but rather from the 1880s. Duchamp was neither its author nor its agent, but rather its brilliant messenger.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Choice praises the book as a "non-linear, retrospective study" that challenges common interpretations of Duchamp's Fountain, highlighting Duve's insightful distinction between ideas of art universality and the "Art-in-General" system. The reviews commend de Duve's original and prescient analysis of Duchamp’s role in art history and his epochal significance.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781789146981

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 01 June 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Reaktion Books

Illustration: 156 illustrations, 69 in colour

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 456

Collections

Arts & Culture Non-Fiction Thierry de Duve

About the Author

Thierry de Duve is the Evelyn Kranes Kossak Professor at Hunter College, City University of New York. His books include Sewn in the Sweatshops of Marx: Beuys, Warhol, Klein, Duchamp.

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