Kant after Duchamp

500 Pages·1996·16.15 MB·English

by  Thierry de Duve

KANT AFTER D U C H A MP
THIERRY DE DUVE
AN OCTOBER BOOK
THE MIT PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
LONDON, ENCLAND
© 1996 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electromc or
mechamcal means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval)
without permission in writing from the publisher
This book was set in Bembo by Graphic Composition, Inc.
Printed on recycled paper and bound in the United States of Amenca
Library of Congress Cataloging-m-Publication Data
Duve, Thierry de
Kant after Duchamp / Thierry de Duve.
p. cm
"An October book."
Includes index.
ISBN 0-262-04151-0 (he : alk. paper), 0-262-54094-0 (pb)
1. Aesthetics. 2. Aesthetics, Modern—19th century.
3. Aesthetics, Modern—20th century 4. Duchamp, Marcel,
1887-1968. 5 Modernism (Art)—France. I. Title.
BH39.D85 1996
111'.85—dc20 95-38235
CIP
109876543

In memoriam Michel Foucault,
who wrote .
Do not ask who I am and do not ask me to remain the same:
leave it to our bureaucrats and our police to see that our papers are in order.
At least spare us their morality when we write.

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
PARTI: THE UNIVERSAL AND THE SINGULAR 1
CHAPTERONE: ART WAS A PROPER NAME 3
ACT ONE: IN WHICH YOU ARE 3
COMING FROM OUTER SPACE AND ASK
YOURSELF "WHAT IS ART?"
ACT TWO: IN WHICH YOU SHARE THE 14
PLIGHT OF HUMANKIND AND ASK
YOURSELF "WHAT SHOULD ART BE?"
ACTTHREE: I N W H I C H Y OU HAVE 31
BECOME JUST YOURSELF AND KNOW
WHAT ART YOU LIKE AND DISLIKE
ACT FOUR: IN WHICH YOU LAND 50
UPON A THEORY OF ART AND GET
READY TO LEAVE THE PLANET
MODERNITY
CHAPTERTWO: GIVEN THE RICHARD MUTT CASE 89
CONTENTS
PREFACE 89
WARNING 95
ALGEBRAIC COMPARISON 99
THE FACTS: RICHARD MUTT AND 101
LOUIS EILSHEMIUS
MORE FACTS: RICHARD MUTT AND 116
ALFRED STIEGLITZ
DEMONSTRATION? 121
STILL MORE FACTS: RICHARD MUTT 124
AND THE ASH CAN SCHOOL ALUMNI
DEMONSTRATION? 131
PART II: THE SPECIFIC AND THE GENERIC 145
CHAPTER THREE: THE READYMADE AND THE TUBE 147
OF PAINT
THE MISSING LINK 147
PURE COLOR IS TO PURE PAINTING 154
WHAT ABSTRACTION IS TO ART IN
GENERAL
THE READYMADE IS TO ART IN 159
GENERAL WHAT THE TUBE OF PAINT
IS TO MODERN PAINTING
CONTENTS
L' IMP O SSIBI LIT E DU EER 166
LA FIGURATION D ' U N POSSIBLE 172
THE DIVISIONIST DIVISION OF LABOR 175
LE CELI B AT AIRE BROIE SON CH O C OL AT 184
L U I~ M EME
TRANSITION 191
CHAPTERFOUR: THE MONOCHROME AND THE BLANK 199
CANVAS
SOME INTERPRETED FACTS 199
SOME FACTUAL INTERPRETATIONS 206
SOME REINTERPRETED FACTS 216
SOME FACTUAL REINTERPRETATIONS 222
MORE REINTERPRETED FACTS 230
MORE FACTUAL REINTERPRETATIONS 238
A CRITICAL REINTERPRETATION 248
A REINTERPRETED CRITIQUE 264
PART III: ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING 281
CHAPTERFIVE: KANT AFTER DUCHAMP 283