Duchamp depicts motion by successive superimposed images, similar to stroboscopic motion photography. Duchamp also recognized the influence of the stop-motion photography of Étienne-Jules Marey, particularly Muybridge's Woman Walking Downstairs from his 1887 picture series, published as The Human Figure in Motion.
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 is one of my favourite paintings . I have a large print of it hanging in my bedroom. When I first saw it I was struck by the sense of movement and graphic linear quality. At the time I didn't realize it was photography that inspired Duchamp to make this masterpiece.
The picture above was taken by Eliot Elisofon, Marcel Duchamp Descending a Staircase, 1952. I think that these two side by side really show what Duchamp was attempting to achieve in his painting style. He was trying to show a figure moving through time in a still painting
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 is one of my favourite paintings . I have a large print of it hanging in my bedroom. When I first saw it I was struck by the sense of movement and graphic linear quality. At the time I didn't realize it was photography that inspired Duchamp to make this masterpiece.
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (French: Nu descendant un escalier n° 2) 1912
Étienne-Jules Marey
Étienne-Jules Marey
