November 30, 2014 |
The father of conceptual art, Duchamp is well known for fixing bicycle wheels to stools and turning urinals on their side and signing them off as art, but he is known less for his painting, which forms the basis of this new exhibition at the Centre Pompidou. Works include this unapologetic re-appropriation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa: when spoken in French, the caption L.H.O.O.Q translates as “She has a cute ass”. The bourgeois art establishment of early 20th-century New York may have been unaccustomed to toilet talk, but we think Duchamp would have fitted in well at our Soho residence.
Marcel Duchamp: La Peinture, Meme, open until January 5; Le Centre Pompidou, Paris.
By Ted Stansfield