Director, WTC Living History Project, NY City
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), along with Picasso, is commonly identified by art historians as having the greatest influence upon 20th century art making. Duchamp's impact within arts production continues unabated today into the 21st century. Shearer will discuss how her examinations of Duchamp's famed Mona Lisa (with the added mustache and beard,"LH00Q," 1919); his series of "Readymade" objects (such as "Hatrack," 1916, the signed urinal ["Fountain" 1917]); and his major work, "The Large Glass" [1915-1923] have revealed significant, and at least retrospectively, obvious alterations. These physical and measurable departures from traditional perspective and photography remained hidden in plain sight and outside conscious perceptions of both art experts and the general public for almost 90 years. Shearer will argue that Duchamp's tricks are not merely Dada jokes--but coexist within his original researches into optical illusions and what he called his pursuit of "rehabilitated perspective." Shearer will bring along Duchamp's "Rotorelief Discs" (1963) to demonstrate his 1923 original scientific discovery, which later scientists coined the "Stereokinetic effect."