Three New York Dadas and The Blind Man: Marcel Duchamp, Henri-Pierre Roché, Beatrice Wood by Chris Allen


Three New York Dadas and The Blind Man: Marcel Duchamp, Henri-Pierre Roché, Beatrice Wood
Title : Three New York Dadas and The Blind Man: Marcel Duchamp, Henri-Pierre Roché, Beatrice Wood
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1900565439
ISBN-10 : 9781900565431
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 160
Publication : First published October 1, 2011

Three New York Dadas and The Blind Man relates the story of the triangular relationship between Marcel Duchamp, Henri-Pierre Roché and Beatrice Wood, told in the words of two of its protagonists; and also reprints in facsimile the Dadaist magazine they produced together in New York in 1917: The Blind Man . The principal text is the first English translation of Roché’s novel Victor , an account of his friendship with Duchamp (nicknamed Victor by his close friends in those days). Although unfinished, Roché’s text offers a unique account of New York Dada, all of whose principal characters and events make an Francis Picabia, Arthur Cravan, the Arensbergs and their soirées, the Blind Man’s Ball and the scandal of Duchamp’s "Fountain" at the Independents exhibition, a pivotal moment in modern art. The novel offers interesting insights into the sexual politics of the period, when a woman could be arrested or blackmailed for spending the night with a man to whom she was not married. Roché, a lifelong friend of Duchamp, appears to have been something of a devotee of triangular relationships, and went on to write a more famous novel on the topic (also autobiographical), Jules et Jim --later made into a film by François Truffaut. Beatrice Wood’s account of these events is taken from her memoirs; she went on to become a celebrated ceramicist, dying in 1998 aged 105. The introduction and commentary is by Dawn Ades, the well-known scholar of Dada and Surrealism.

Three New York Dadas and The Blind Man: Marcel Duchamp, Henri-Pierre Roché, Beatrice Wood Reviews

  • Tosh

    Atlas Press, out of London (and distributed by D.A.P.) always goes the extra mile. They've been around for years, yet they are releasing really important books. Today, I didn't want to be be disturbed or interrupted while reading "3 New Dadas and The Blind Man." So I took a series of bus trips through out Los Angeles, for the purpose of reading this book from the beginning to the end. Probably the best Saturday in my life, so far.

    The book is both a document, a memoir, as well as fiction regarding three major figures in the early 20th century Arts: Henri-Pierre Roché, Beatrice Wood and of course Marcel Duchamp. The two Frenchmen came to reside in New York City, where they met Ms. Wood. At the time, sort of combination of a party girl and hardcore aesthetic person. In fact, this little volume is a perfect snapshot of bohemian life in New York.

    What we are presented with is a piece of fiction by Roché called "Victor," which is basically a memoir with the names changed to protect the guilty. The book never was completed, and it doesn't really hold up as literature, but it is a fascinating document of a time, a place, and ground zero for one of the greatest things that happen in contemporary art. Which was in two words: Marcel. Duchamp. Roché captures 'Victor' (Duchamp) at the peak of his iconic powers. He pretty much documents Duchamp's work habits as well as love life of sorts. The thing about Duchamp is that he is always a man of mystery. Very visible yet invisible. He was Warhol-like of his time that he could be in the public's and friend's eyes, but remains on an island that is truly Duchampville. Before the novel starts the editors gave a glossary of who is who in the novel. Which of course is fascinating.

    The mighty trio at this time started up a zine style magazine called "The Blind Man," which focused on poetry, but a lot of it deals with the R. Mutt sculpture by Duchamp that was turned down by the festival that they helped put together. Each artist can contribute a piece to the exhibition, but they must pay $6. Duchamp did so under another name, but there was controversy over the urinal, because of all practices it was just that - a piece of plumbing. Yet Duchamp chose this everyday instrument of release as an art object. Bingo, an early, if not the first, conceptual piece in art. There were two issues of "The Blind Man" and they are here in all of its glory. Wonderful stuff.

    What makes this book so unique is that I don't get the feeling that I am reading or seeing something from the past. Even those this time period is almost 100 years ago, it seems like now. Especially coming out of the Printed Matter Book Festival last week - the spirit of doing a magazine or a zine is still very much part of our psyche. It's a beautiful thing and this book is a real wonder. Also included is an excerpt from Beatrice's memoir "I Shock Myself" dealing with the period of time when they put together "The Blind Man" as well as her dealing with contemporary art, which to Beatrice Wood at the time, was really weird.

    Highly recommended title if you are a Duchamp fan, but beyond that, the spirit of the book is a complete turn-on. Oh, and the production, and printing is superb. Excellent work Atlas!

  • Rob Atkinson

    A very handsome little book from Atlas Press, and a window onto a brief but crucial episode in New York City history which would forever redefine art. The Independents' Exhibition of 1917 and its promotional magazine "The Blind Man" were the locus of New York Dada's most infamous gesture -- Marcel Duchamp's submission of an inverted urinal titled "Fountain" and signed 'R. Mutt' to the show. Despite a stated policy of no jury and complete freedom to exhibit any work provided the $6 fee was paid, the work was rejected. New York avant-gardists rallied around the validity of Duchamp's readymade as a work of art in the Blind Man's second issue, illustrated with a photograph of the infamous work by Alfred Steiglitz.

    Duchamp's chief accomplices in creating the show and the magazine promoting his succés de scandale were fellow Frenchman and writer Henri-Pierre Roché, and the young American Beatrice Wood. Along with complete facsimiles of the Blind Man's two issues, this book is comprised of these two figures' accounts of the events and social swirl revolving around this epochal moment. Roché's account takes the form of his unfinished autobiographical novel "Victor" (Duchamp's nickname among his friends at that time), here published in English for the first time. Despite Roché's use of pseudonyms (all helpfully unmasked in a preface here) and its presentation as fiction, this work clearly hews close to the actual events; it reads like an artfully written, sensitive memoir of the Arensberg Circle and the love triangle between Beatrice, himself, and Duchamp. One only wishes he'd completed it -- with its remarkable setting and characters, it may well have outshone his other novelized ménage a trois, "Jules and Jim". But what IS here thoroughly and beautifully documents the period the book addresses. The book concludes with the apposite excerpt from Beatrice Wood's own 1977 memoir, "I Shock Myself", giving her perspective of the same scene and events. What surprises here is just how naive and innocent she was -- though adventurous for her era, she was apparently quite the ingenue, and was truly baffled by the art of the Arensbergs' Salon. It seems she was swept along by the force of Duchamp's and Roché's characters, and by her infatuation with these older, sophisticated Frenchmen. For her, it was truly a baptism by fire.

  • Lance Grabmiller

    A fascinating document. It is mostly the unpublished (and mostly unfinished) autobiography (in a slightly fictionalized form) VICTOR by Henri-Pierre Roché. It recounts the triangular relationship between him, Marcel Duchamp and Beatrice Wood in New York in the late teens and was written shortly before he died in the late 50s. It is followed by facsimile reproductions of the two issues of THE BLIND MAN published in 1917 by the trio. Rounding up the collection is a small part of Beatrice Wood's autobiography, I SHOCK MYSELF, as it relates to that time but not written until the 1980s. Copious notes, photographs and brief biographical sketches of all involved make for a really extraordinary document on the roots of Dada.