KJCKorea
Journal Central

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) is one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. The study of Duchamp’s work has emerged as an important and controversial topic in art history. There have been two major streams of research on Duchamp’s works: One is an inventor of the Dada “ready- made”, and the other is his influence on feminism through the alter-ego of “Rose Sélavy”. The topic of Duchamp as Rose Sélavy is based on understanding the sexuality of Duchamp’s work. This research is focusing on the second stream, but it does not strictly follow the theory of feminism. This study is an exploration of Duchamp’s work by emphasizing yet another methodical possibility: strategy of eroticism and appropriation of Androgyny in his last work, <Étant donnés>. What is the meaning of ‘Androgyny’? It literally means a combining of two sexes or interplay of the opposites of ‘masculinity’ and ‘feminist’ in one figure. The term may also be used to represent the physical bisexuality of the hermaphrodite, that is a very limited and misunderstood usage of it. The meaning of ‘Androgyny’ is not only from the physical concept but also from spiritual concept which is based on the ideal of religion and metaphysic. How could Duchamp get the idea of Androgyny in his work as an artist of 20th century? Though Duchamp didn’t reveal how he got the idea, he acknowledged the influence of Alchemy. Duchamp developed his own way to appropriate images of Androgyny in his works. <Étant donnés>(Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas) is Duchamp’s final masterwork which had been secretly constructed from 1946 to 1966. This work is threedimensional assemblage, which offers an extraordinary shocking visual experience. Viewers are expected to look through a pair of peep holes on the wooden door which makes a block between inside and outside. The voyeur beholds a realistically constructed nude (naked body) lying with the spread legs on twigs, and holding a gas lamp in one hand. The most controversial part of this work is the naked body. Though it is not a hermaphrodite, the sexual organs appear ambiguous. It is a symbolic figure represented as an androgynous body. Because of this, we should think beyond the physical version of the body to understand the artist’s complex ideas. The clue to understand the work is in the title, ‘Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas’. ‘Given’ is a condition to be granted two elements, ‘the waterfall and the Illuminating Gas’. What do two elements symbolize? The title is at the preface of Duchamp’s Green Box notes. That means <Étant donnés> is another version of <Large Glass>. According to the connection of two works, the Waterfall is a symbol of female and the Illuminating Gas is a symbol of male. The androgyne is at the center of the work. The two symbols support the central theme to make the balance of female and male. The condition of <Étant donnés> is two poles in this work, one is the naked body of the inside and the other is viewers of the outside. He strongly revealed eroticism in this work, but in the form of Androgyny as an allegorical appearance. His idea of Androgyny became conceptualized. There is Duchamp’s play and intrigue in this work, he concealed the essential meaning beyond sexuality. The work reveals an image of conceptual ambiguity. The appropriation of Androgyny is represented by the reconciliation of opposition between art works and viewer. That is less a conclusion than an open-ended investigation. He didn’t have any intention about postmodernism, but the idea of appropriation in his works is one of the most important strategies of postmodernism. The study of Androgyny in Duchamp gives a new version to understand Duchamp in the continuity of art history.

appropriation of Androgyny, strategy of eroticism, conceptual ambiguity, reconciliation of opposition