Marcel Duchamp

Born to a wealthy family, Duchamp was exposed to art appreciation since his early years. After studying in Paris following his elder brother, he took off a career in painting, influenced by Post-Impressionist and Fauvism movements. In Paris, while accomodating a group called Puteaux group, he started to expose at the Salon d’Automne and later Salon des Indépendants. Here in 1912 he displayed his Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, which wasn’t well received in Paris but gained some recognition in the US. After a short stay in Germany, where he started to work on The Large Glass, he moved to US, befriending other artists such as Katherine Dreier, Beatrice Wood and Man Ray. His Fountain piece was rejected by the Society of Independent Artists – an episode that led Duchamp to abandon the panel for good. In 1920 he formed the Société Anonyme with Man Ray and Katherine Dreier. Between 1928 and 1933 he quit art to focus on chess. He returned to art only later to create the Étant donnés, which he completed in 1966, after a long artistic creation.