“Sculpture in the Age of Doubt” By Thomas McEvilley 1999. Chapter 3 Summary:

During a time where there was a base for how art should be approached, one artist dared to go beyond the norm and take his work to another level. This man was Marcel Duchamp, the “artist of the century.” Duchamp began the change in the period of Modernism between 1911-1913, when he made a drastic change in his thought process. He rearranged his mind to think freely with no distinct base to guide him through his work. It started when he had his mental breakdown from the traumatic rejection that caused him to turn to a philosopher, who he thought knew how to live.

Duchamp lived a very dysfunctional life that caused him to have severe mental issues that changed his way of thinking. For a long period of time he fell in love with his sister, Suzanne. When she was married Duchamp finally snapped and completely broke everything he stood for as an artist. He gave up painting for a while and went into solitude with books about different philosophers, with one in particular who gave him a whole new outlook on life.

The philosopher Pyrrho of Elis influenced Duchamp by giving him a new approach to live life. His theory was to have no basis or certain structure that should tame natural freedom within the physical world. Pyrrho states that nothing truly exists, the world is an ever-changing essence, therefore came the question of uncertainty.

After Duchamp took in all he had learned, he became emotionally “numb.” He chose to feel nothing and wanted to prove that he could be an artist although he had no real emotions of his own. He created the “Readymade” pieces that were to simply be the object. He wanted to fool the audience as they discuss the aesthetic beauty of his pieces, when this is the opposite of what he wanted. He brought in the attitude of indifference, and did not believe in anything at all. These objects give the thought that they, perhaps, are the non-changing forms of reality. Although, when trying to reason with Duchamp he simply answers that he is indifferent and does not have a specific belief.

Duchamp has marked the beginning of the true Postmodernism era. As time progresses other artists have tried to recreate    Duchamp's work but only produce aesthetically pleasing pieces, they do not grasp the real concept behind his theory. Although they have been the only ones who have taken the closet approach to matching Duchamp, who wants rejection of style.

1. What is sculpture today?
2. Should style be something more then what appears?
3. To be indifferent, should that mean loss of all emotion?