Good Job DuCHAMP.

This painting entitled The Bride Stripped bare by her Bachelors, Even but Marcel Duchamp had me utterly stumped. At first I thought it was some type of futuristic landscape in the top plane and then a sort of 1970's living room in the bottom half. The top half to me looked like a desert with a robotic bird in it and blank speech bubbles at the top. The blank speech bubbles made me think of an unfinished comic book. The second half seems to have a couch in the center of it with a propeller type of object coming out of the center. The mannequin looking figures on the left side of the painting is the only thing that could even remotely resemble what Duchamp meant them to be. The only way they do resembles the Brides Bachelors is because they have the shape of a human figure. Even though they are human figures, it seems more like it would be a walk in closet of some sort instead of seven or eight men. The circles in the upper right corner of the bottom also resembles a coffee table which convinced me even more that this was a still life of a living room. I was way off in that interpretation and I was just completely baffled when Pat read us the article and showed us the website of was Duchamp was actually interpreting in this painting.

Getting more into the physical traits of this piece, the only thing I really appreciate in it is the fact that it was done on glass; cracked glass. That makes me imagine that Duchamp found the piece of glass and thought out this elaborate story of what he could paint on it. If I were to find a beautiful piece of cracked glass, I would try to paint something that went along with the story of me finding it. I do not however, like anything else in this picture. The brown tones aren't terrible, but I think if it was done in a grayscale with one color added to certain spots to emphasize important parts than it would be much more appealing. Also I think that this painting is very unbalanced. In the top half the only part of the painting that is utilized is the left upper corner and top strip. The rest of the upper plane is just plain white, which causes the eye to get very bored very quick. The lower plane of the painting is less unbalanced but still has a lot of boring areas. The left side of the painting, just as the top was, is still where the majority of the objects are. It may be due to the fact that there are so many objects over there that makes it seem left heavy, but I think the bottom plane of the painting, the left side unparticular is very clutter. I think it is too cluttered for the piece. The composition and color of this painting could have been better.

Overall I do not think this is a successful piece. I look at it and it just frustrates me because it is confusing and an eye sore. The composition is sloppy, the color is not enticing and the planes really do not compliment each other. I do not like this painting and do not appreciate Duchamp's decisions made in it.

The above image was found at http://www.woestenburg.nl/dada/afbeeld/duchampverre.jpg.