Art never occurs in a vacuum; there are always contextual clues as to why artists create, which derive from social and political history. Artists in completely different eras can experience similar events that potentially create analogous products. An artist connection that I find interesting is Marcel Duchamp’s influence on the choreographer, Merce Cunningham. Duchamp, as a Dada master of the early 19th century inspired Cunningham’s work, Walkaround Time. The set design and the overall movement quality of the work was inspired by Duchamp's piece, The Bride Stripped Bare of her Bachelors, Even. It is by investigating the set design, and spatial relationships that Cunningham utilizes in his work that one begins to uncover the Dadaist references
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Dadaism is characterized by embracing the irrational and chaos because it existed within such a turbulent era. Duchamp was the leading figure of this movement because he was an innovator: he coined the name “ready-mades” which were art pieces that he created out of everyday objects by altering them slightly and he additionally worked with mechanical themes that kept with the contemporary times. His work was embraced and rejected, because in my opinion, he was ahead of his time, which is exactly the quality that makes him appealing to Cunningham during the 1960s. In addition to his innovative appeal, I argue that Cunningham was drawn to Duchamp’s work because he was experiencing similar events during his time that are comparable to World War I. Walkaround Time premiered in 1968 during the height of the Cold War between the United States and Russia. During this time in America, there was a constant fear of communism and distrust among friends that contributed to a chaotic political and social atmosphere. Perhaps Cunningham was attempting to draw these connections between himself and Duchamp to find a niche for his own innovative movement styles in a time that was in complete uproar. Therefore, he was embracing the chaos just as Duchamp, and labeling himself as an artist separate from his predecessors’ …show more content…
He alludes to the artwork’s binary subject by placing the dancers heavily on stage left, mimicking how the “bachelors” are arranged in the original artwork. Jasper John hung the portion of the set that held the “Bride” and scattered transparent boxes across the space that filled in the holes between the dancers acting as the “bachelors”. This allows the viewer to infer that the remaining transparent boxes on the floor surrounding the dancers are related to the other mechanical parts of the art piece. Less obviously than the set design, Cunningham references Duchamp’s piece through the movement style and relationships among the dancers. Walkaround Time displays dancers moving incredibly direct, intentional and stripped of flamboyance including a lack of expression. Throughout the piece and all of Cunningham’s work, the dancers interact with one another, but they do not make any emotional connection. All of their relationships are strictly physical; an example in the piece is a duet between two dancers upstage where they struggle to move in a excruciatingly slow run. Although the two are physically touching, the dancers do not look at each other, nor do they express any recognition that there is another person with them in the space. Similar examples to this connect
Dadaism is characterized by embracing the irrational and chaos because it existed within such a turbulent era. Duchamp was the leading figure of this movement because he was an innovator: he coined the name “ready-mades” which were art pieces that he created out of everyday objects by altering them slightly and he additionally worked with mechanical themes that kept with the contemporary times. His work was embraced and rejected, because in my opinion, he was ahead of his time, which is exactly the quality that makes him appealing to Cunningham during the 1960s. In addition to his innovative appeal, I argue that Cunningham was drawn to Duchamp’s work because he was experiencing similar events during his time that are comparable to World War I. Walkaround Time premiered in 1968 during the height of the Cold War between the United States and Russia. During this time in America, there was a constant fear of communism and distrust among friends that contributed to a chaotic political and social atmosphere. Perhaps Cunningham was attempting to draw these connections between himself and Duchamp to find a niche for his own innovative movement styles in a time that was in complete uproar. Therefore, he was embracing the chaos just as Duchamp, and labeling himself as an artist separate from his predecessors’ …show more content…
He alludes to the artwork’s binary subject by placing the dancers heavily on stage left, mimicking how the “bachelors” are arranged in the original artwork. Jasper John hung the portion of the set that held the “Bride” and scattered transparent boxes across the space that filled in the holes between the dancers acting as the “bachelors”. This allows the viewer to infer that the remaining transparent boxes on the floor surrounding the dancers are related to the other mechanical parts of the art piece. Less obviously than the set design, Cunningham references Duchamp’s piece through the movement style and relationships among the dancers. Walkaround Time displays dancers moving incredibly direct, intentional and stripped of flamboyance including a lack of expression. Throughout the piece and all of Cunningham’s work, the dancers interact with one another, but they do not make any emotional connection. All of their relationships are strictly physical; an example in the piece is a duet between two dancers upstage where they struggle to move in a excruciatingly slow run. Although the two are physically touching, the dancers do not look at each other, nor do they express any recognition that there is another person with them in the space. Similar examples to this connect