Movement in Art
Duchamp’s oil painting of Nude Descending Stairs has often been considered as somewhat unconventional in the sense in which it subverts style. The image was an inversion of Cubist art in the sense that movement was captured in a single image and not in a multiplicity of images. There is also a strong element of imagination because Duchamp deliberately conceals any anatomical structures of a nude. Instead, he captures he presents patterns and shades in a way the probes the viewer to imagine any appropriate image of the concealed nude. Comparatively Muybridge images of Nude Descending Stair and Turning Round are conventional portrayal of Cubist art (Masheck, 2002). This is precisely because the artists captured the sequence of movement in a series of images. This enables him to control the rhythm of the image through a multiplicity of forms.
The point of divergence between the two forms is that one is obvious while the other seeks to achieve an element of style in a manner that experiments with the existing forms. There is also a strong element of surrealism in the work of art which shows through the portrayal of inanimate forms to represent a human form. In Muybridge image, there is an element of realism because the artist condenses the meaning of his caption through known forms of art (Hopkins, 2000). In short, there is nothing out of the ordinary in Muybridge’s art. On the other hand, there is nothing ordinary in the art of Duchamp. It might be argued that the latter has an aspect of innovation while the other is conformist. What Muybridge achieves essentially is the celebration of feminine qualities in the image of the woman in a somewhat chivalrous portrayal of reality. On the other hand Muybridge distorts the usual aesthetics tastes of the visual by transferring the feminine qualities of a nude to the level of imagination.
The abstract painting of Duchamp might be considered as a surrealistic depiction of the American lifestyle. The stylistic distortion of forms combines with the deliberate use of bold colors to capture the rhythm and movement of popular culture. The dexterity of this art is illustrated in the ability of the single painting to resonate with the force of a range of ideologies that are anchored within the lifestyle. By examining this painting somewhat more closely, the viewer is able to find forces of feminism, materialism, secularism and consumerism as they combine and compete within the American cultural superstructure.
Balance in this painting is created through the choice of color, the angles of representation and the general expression on the pattern of the images. The bold red colors are toned down by a mixture of blue, white and yellow. The effect that this combination creates is one that offers the different dimensions of the life. Through the choice of the abstract and surrealism, Duchamp allows his imagination a freehand into exposing the weaknesses of some of the artistic values (Naumann & Duchamp, 1999). The expression on the faces of the images, for instance, ranges from that of anguish and anger.
The inanimate patterns forms are shown as being particularly vexed by the swirling currents of activities of movement. In symbolic terms, this particular depiction might illustrate the painter’s acknowledgement or support of the course of feminism as it expresses itself through the liberated woman. Duchamp work Surreal marks him out as one of the most successful expressionist artists. The artist cobbles together a ranger of unrelated images onto a single frame to illustrate the disjointed aspects of the American lifestyle. In this painting there appears to be images of a modern setting like a city or a slum that is largely deserted (Acton, 2004). About three life forms can be seen pacing about leisurely in what appears to be a languid portrayal of modern life. Assorted arrays of objects are littered on every side of the streets.
In the background there seems to be smoke or snow on the visible skyscrapers. In his own admission, Jansen said that most of his paintings are anchored on social realism. He engages his imaginative potential on political realities as they play out in the American society, or by extension the western culture. In this painting it is apparent that the painting captures the rhythm of modern confusion as expressed within the American urban establishment.
Balance in this painting is deliberately distorted through the morphing together of several unrelated signifiers that portray the disjointed nature of the American lifestyle. It might be argued also that the rhythm that this painting creates is irregular and rapid; testifying to the speed of things and the potential of damage that often symbolizes the liberal life of America (Judovitz & Duchamp, 2010). It might equally be suggested that the effort of the artist in this painting is to capture an artist’s impression of the American social confusion and valueless culture. Rhythm is achieved through the dark colors that have been used in regular patterning so that the message that issues from the painting reflects some sense of unity in meaning (Kelly, 2003).
The regular rhythm creates an element of suspicion that enables the viewer of this painting to imagine the general aspects that might attach to the American night life. It is a painting that symbolically carries the weight of American values, morals, and dangers in a reduced version. Ultimately it might suffice to consider that the real difference between the art of Muybridge and that of Duchamp basically revolves about the factor of movement. Duchamp represents movement through a surrealistic portrayal of a singular image. On the other hand, Muybridge achieves the same through a conventional display of a sequence of images.
References
Acton, M, 2004, Learning to look at modern art, Routledge, London
Hopkins, D, 2000, After modern art: 1945-2000, , Oxford University Press, Oxford
Judovitz, D & Duchamp, M, 2010, Drawing on art: Duchamp and company, , University of Minnesota Press, Minnesota.
Kelly, M, 2003, Iconoclasm in aesthetics, Cambridge University Press, London.
Masheck, J, 2002, Marcel Duchamp in perspective, Da Capo Press, New York.
Naumann, F, M, & Duchamp, M, 1999, Marcel Duchamp: the art of making art in the age of mechanical reproduction, Ludion Press, London.
