Marcel Duchamp: Roue de Bicyclette / Bicycle Wheel (1913 & 1964)

Duchamp became the ‘prime mover’ of Dada and pioneered the ‘Readymade’ in art. Readymades circumvented the artist’s rational aesthetics by using objects that already existed and were a protest against the elitist art market, because the objects were made from everyday objects and therefore could easily be replicated by anyone. The value of a readymade should not, in theory, be of any more value than the items it is made from, despite what artists or critics may say… Readymades became art through selection and presentation. This indicated that the art is not the object, but exists as an idea, or concept, which can then be conveyed by an object.

Duchamp’s 1913 sculpture of a bicycle wheel mounted on a stool was the first readymade and now generally recognised as the first manifestation of Dada ideology. The original is now lost, but Duchamp produced another version in 1964 which is displayed in the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

The word 'dada' means several things in several languages. It is French for ‘hobbyhorse’, Slavic for ‘yes-yes’, Cymraeg for a ‘treat’ and in some languages might be the first words spoken by a baby…

Dada was not an art movement. Dada was anti-art, anti-aesthetic, anti-elitist, anti-tradition, anti-academic, anti-rationalism, anti-war, anti-complacency…

Rebellion, protest, cynicism, disgust, humour, shock and surprise in multiple manifestations: the Dadaists were the first Punks!

 Artists associated with early Dada include Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Kurt Schwitters, Jean Arp, Sophie Taeuber, Hans Richter, Raoul Hausmann, Hannah Hoch, and the poet Tristan Tzara, originating from the culture associated with Hugo Ball’s club, Cabaret Voltaire, in Zurich.

MORE:

Image of Duchamp's third version made in 1951 at the excellent MoMA Learning website

There is a good image of Duchamp sitting next to this piece in this short article about Dada in New York

Click image above for reviews of to buy this good overview of Duchamp's life and works