Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.
Title |
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. |
Translated Title |
Nu descendant un escalier No. 2. |
Creator |
Duchamp, Marcel (French painter, sculptor, and writer, 1887-1968) |
Date |
1912 |
Cultural Context |
French European Western European |
Style/Period |
Cubist Futurist |
Subject |
Locomotion Human locomotion Walking Nudes Stairways |
Description |
"Marcel Duchamp submitted [to the 1913 New York Armory Show] Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, which was the most scandalous work of all. It was a humorous attack on Futurist proscriptions against traditional, Academic nudity. The image has a kinetic quality consistent with the Futurist interest in speed and motion. At the same time, the figure is a combination of Cubist form and multiple images that indicate the influence of photography. She is shown at different points in her descent, so the painting resembles a series of consecutive movie stills, unframed and superimposed. […] Duchamp recorded his own version of the Nude's place in the history of art: 'My aim was a static representation of movement - a static composition of indications of various positions taken by a form in movement - with no attempt to give cinema effects through painting.'" |
Material |
Oil on canvas Oil paint (pigmented coating) Paint Canvas |
Measurements |
4 ft 10 in x 2 ft 11 in (1.47 x 0.89 m) |
Technique |
Oil painting (technique) Painting (image-making) |
Inscription |
Lower left: NU DESCENDANT UN ESCALIER; Bottom center: Artist's signature |
Work Type |
Oil paintings Paintings |
Repository |
Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
Source |
Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art Across Time. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York: McGraw, 2002. (p.[899], 25.18). |
Rights |
Reproduced in Adams courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art, Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection/ © 2001 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Estate of Marcel Duchamp. |
Digital Publisher |
University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center |
Format |
image/jpeg |
Digital File Name |
VRC 437-16.jpg |
Rating |
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