Tuesday 18 October 2011

Marcel Duchamp and objective artistic achievement

Duchamp is one of those rare personalities whose influence directly altered the course of history, in this case art history, dividing it into a before and an after.

That's from a book I have on Marcel Duchamp. It has always bothered me that all art (literature and music as well) is subjective. But there are some objective achievements. Duchamp did divide art history into a before and an after. That is objectively a great achievement, regardless of what anyone thinks of his work.

This realization has cheered me up considerably.