Overview
In 1915, a group of French artists fled war-torn Europe for New York.Ā Ā In the few months between their arrivalāand Americaās entry into the war in April 1917āthey pushed back the boundaries of the possible, in both life and art.Ā Ā The vortex of this transformation was the apartment at 33 West 67th Street, owned by Walter and Louise Arensberg, where artists and poets met nightly to talk, eat, drink, discuss each othersā work, play chess, plan balls, organise magazines and exhibitions, and fall in and out of love.Ā Ā At the centerĀ of all this activity stood the mysterious figure of Marcel Duchamp, always approachable, always unreadable.Ā Ā His exhibit of a urinal, which he called Fountain, briefly shocked the New York art world before falling, like its perpetrator, into obscurity.Ā
Many people (of both sexes) were in love with Duchamp. Henri-Pierre RochĆ© and Beatrice Wood were among them; they were also, briefly, and (for her) life-changingly, in love with each other.Ā Ā Both kept daily diaries, which give an intimate picture of the events of those years.Ā Ā Or rather two picturesāfor the views they offer, including of their own love affair, are stunningly divergent.Ā Ā
Spellbound by Marcel follows Duchamp, RochĆ©, and Beatrice as they traverse the twentieth century. RochĆ© became the author of Jules and Jim, made into a classic film by FranƧois Truffaut.Ā Ā Beatrice became a celebrated ceramicist. Duchamp fell into chess-playing obscurity until, decades later, he became famous for a second timeāas Fountain was elected the twentieth centuryās most influential artwork.Ā
This book title, Spellbound by Marcel (Duchamp, Love, and Art), ISBN: 9781643138619, by Ruth Brandon, published by Pegasus Books (February 1, 2022) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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