Marcel Duchamp: Manual of Instructions: Étant donnés by Marcel Duchamp


Marcel Duchamp: Manual of Instructions: Étant donnés
Title : Marcel Duchamp: Manual of Instructions: Étant donnés
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0300149808
ISBN-10 : 9780300149807
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 76
Publication : First published December 1, 1987

Out of print for a number of years, this facsimile of Marcel Duchamp’s Manual of Instructions was prepared by the artist for the disassembly of Étant donnés in his New York studio and its reassembly at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. First published more than twenty years ago, the manual has had far-reaching ramifications for the study of Étant donnés and Duchamp. Illustrated with 116 black-and-white Polaroids taken by the artist and 35 pages of his handwritten notes and sketches, the revised edition includes a new essay by Michael R. Taylor on the pivotal importance of the manual to an understanding of Duchamp’s artistic practice as well as the first English translation of the artist’s text.

Marcel Duchamp: Manual of Instructions: Étant donnés Reviews

  • Nativeabuse

    Meh this was really disappointing as a book, I thought it would be interesting because of the fact that it is basically a book of scans from a Marcel Duchamp binder, but I didn't really look that closely at it, and it turns out to be all about one specific installation for 50 pages.

    I thought it was just going to be a regular notebook, but it is actually instructions on how to disassemble and reassemble this one particular installation. The book is written in his handwriting in french with a booklet of english translations in the back. He illustrates all of the steps with photographs of the sculpture in various stages of being setup/torn down. So the entire book is just photos and writing of one sculpture.

    To say the least the book was incredibly boring and the piece itself was an uninteresting piece in general anyway. So I'm left confused why they even went through all the effort for such a bland sculpture at all, and I'm even more confused why they thought instructions on where to unscrew stuff would be interesting for someone to read even for Duchamp scholars.

  • Pablo

    A complete fascimilie of one of Duchamp's notebooks from his last major work, completed after a 20 something year long hiatus/retirement from making art.

  • Tosh

    If one has the great Yale Edition of "Marcel Duchamp, Etant donnes" then you must have this as well. Duchamp's notes and drawings regarding this mysterious masterpiece.

  • A

    This is a facsimile of the notebook that Marcel Duchamp used to assemble Etant Donnes. If you look at it carefully, you can see Duchamp's mind at work... It is how the magician creates an illusion.

  • Warren Moeckel

    Beautiful!