ET 2: Muybridge and Duchamp: The Beginning of Modernism

 Yes, It's Modern Time~

            It all started in the late 19^th century in Europe. Everything we saw, we felt, we enjoyed our lives had changed. Everything was changing, improving, revolving into more civilized, developed era of “Modernism”. There were either uncountable reformations or transformations within ideas, productivities, politics, art, science and all that was all controlling the major parts of the civilisations. That was the time for the big shock, which seemed to be impossible, unbelievable for all the people with the swift or rapid changes of this new revolution!

What? Modern Art?

       In fact, many great artists had become to associate with the “popular” science and the advanced technology that were the top people’s interest of the time. Many artists, including a famous artist of Modern art, Marcel Duchamp who effectively and successfully created the portrait of an illusion about a nude woman coming down from the staircase step by step. 

Here is the modern art famous picture of Duchamp exhibited at the Armory show in New York, 1913.

 Honestly? When I looked just carelessly at the picture, and not as the artist, I understood nothing to make sense until I finally read the caption. It seemed to be very intricate, complex and hard to recognize the actual illusion of the portrait. It’s like a lazy artist woke up from a nightmare and started painting nonsense. But because THAT is the style of modernism! This is no longer a clear shot painting of Mona Lisa once upon a time from 16^th century. Or like this picture of Corot with the same concept about a nude woman in an aesthetic view.

             As a matter of fact, Duchamp established very stylish works of art in Modernism, the technique of using both Cubism and Futurism.

Cubism: It’s an art movement in the early 20^th century emphasizing on the concept of fractured objects and relocating them in a multi different layers, heights, and attitudes from many points of views (various dimensions). Indeed it represents the reality that’s able to look at an object from many angles and points, instead of one side view from the artist drawing on a canvas. And thus, a square on paper becomes a cube!

Futurism: Likewise, futurism has also been a tremendous artistic movement that expresses the things that we actually see beyond the reality; like emotions, feelings, time, speed and sound. Futuristic artists greatly illustrated the meaning, the hardcore of the modernism, the change, the speed, and the revolutionary!

Compared to the oldie styles

         When we compare these two paintings from 16^th century and the modernized one, now we finally could differentiate how Duchamp could use cubism in his art unlike the old paintings. If we carefully observe the nude woman coming down, we can see these angles, different positions, body postures, attitudes and many layers and as if we can see her from different dimensions. Just like we are seeing a real lady coming down and rotating around her to look at. Whereas the old portrait was just from one straight side of view from the window, was just a flat 2D painting.

         Same with futurism, Duchamp tried so many figures; slightly far apart from each other to appear the model is moving, coming down from the staircase. He could not express like a real motion picture that we could able to capture it with a video camera nowadays of course; but instead he successfully created the illusion of it. On the other hand, old styles are very stable, calm, and just like a freezing shot of the moment, where in modernism, as I have mentioned earlier, everything is energetic, moving, and revolving. And now that exactly makes the difference between a modern art and old style art.

Technology takes part!

         Then again, with the help of the upshots in industrializing, ‘science’ and ‘technology’ had replaced most of our resources. Especially time, money, energy and raw materials in very efficient way. One of the brilliant inventions of all time is the emergence of picture cameras. Back then; those cameras were placed from many different angles or the distances to take the consecutive, sequence photographs of the object moving in one split of second. Useful truth of biology that is, our eyes, especially retinas, are instantly being fooled to see that these models in photos are moving when the speed of going through the pictures is rapid enough. In fact, one of the earliest British photographers, Eadweard Muybridge who was well known for the animal locomotion and motion pictures initiated to photograph the same concept of Duchamp's portrait. He transformed this inspiring painting into practical and amazing motion pictures by photographing a nude woman, and swiftly portrayed in a series of consecutive sequence. Below is the image of Muybridge's photographs of a nude woman coming down from the staircase. 

Muybridge & Duchamp 

              When we examine these same concepts but different version of Muybridge and Duchamp's works of art, there are either similarities or differences. Similarities are such both of the artists were in the period of modernism; a time of moving revolutionary and everyone was enthusiastic about it. Both of them were very successful in demonstrating the ideology of cubism and futurism in their art. They included the lines in the background to show us how different is each picture in each different position. We see the rotation like swifts and swirls around the model either in Duchamp or Muybridge's. We see many layers that are very expressive about the movement of the model woman. And yes, they both are moving!

               Where else, the very obvious difference between these photos is the model in the frame. Duchamp included every single figure that the model is moving in one frame that was very hard to understand. It looked very intricate, unrealistic, and confusing one to look at. On the other hand, Muybridge used very simple and clear shot photos and took many positioned-shots to put that all in a frame to become a lot easier for the public to enjoy the art. Thank God for the cameras!

             However, back in those days, Duchamp's painting was in the controversial state when it first released out of a sudden. Owing to the fact that he combined the techniques of modern ideology, cubism and futurism; but still using the same old brushes and the canvas. As I have said earlier, modernism resulted many old resources to be replaced by science and technology, the invention of cameras takes place the pictures. No matter what, Duchamp tried his best to create his best shot; the combination of both old and new styles of art and that was such a big applause. 

                

             Particularly in my opinion, both of Muybridge and Duchamp were able to bear the ideas of 'Modernism' in art. But if I have to pick one's work, which was more, related to modern era, it would be Muybridge's photographs. These days, the rate of population going to the art gallery compared to the ones going to the movies is very much modest. This is because, everybody always likes new things to see at, shocking things to get amazed and unbelievable things to get inspired. It has very much got to do with the same as 'Modernism'. It's always about the changing, hottest, newest, and the astonishing things ever we have seen in our lives. 

             Winding up the whole thing, Modernism has successfully begun, and it's still growing now. As I have stated in my introduction once, everything appeared to be very unusual, unrealistic, and unbelievable for all the people with the new changes. Now, everyone prefers to watch something awesome called, 3D or something very go-beyond-reality like 'Avatars' or something that has to do with futurism like 'Fast & Furious' in this modern cinemas anyway. Nonetheless, we all are trying our every opportunity to make our dreams come true in the end; and it will no longer stay only inside our fairytales, our imaginations, never ever!

The End.