Marcel Duchamp
Father of conceptual art
Most quoted
"Art is the only form of activity in which man as man shows himself to be a true individual. Only in art is he capable of going beyond the animal state, because art is an outlet toward regions which are not ruled by time and space."
— from Session on the Creative Act, 1957
"The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act."
— from The Creative Act, 1957
"What I have in mind is that art may be bad, good or indifferent, but whatever adjective is used, we must call it art, and bad art is still art in the same way that a bad emotion is still an emotion."
— from Speech, 1957
All quotes by Marcel Duchamp (321)
I have always been interested in ideas, not in visual products.
The ready-made is a form of doubt.
The creative act is a collaboration between the artist and the spectator.
I don't believe in the word 'art'.
The artist is not the only one who creates.
The ready-made is a way of questioning art.
I have always tried to avoid taste.
The creative act is a mystery.
The ready-made is a challenge to art.
I am not interested in the retinal aspect of art.
The creative act is a dialogue.
The ready-made is a gesture.
I have always been interested in the idea of art, not in the object of art.
The creative act is an exchange.
My art is not for the eye but for the mind.
I like breathing better than working.
I have never been able to believe in the importance of art.
A 'readymade' is a work of art that is not made by the artist but chosen by him.
I believe that art is the only activity of man that is not useful.
The individual, the human being, is more interesting than the art.
Contemporaries of Marcel Duchamp
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968).