Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life

"The art of Marcel Duchamp is shrouded in mystery--although widely theorized and recognized as the most important artist of the twentieth century, both his intentions and his art works remain enigmatic. Marcel Duchamp's artistic explorations of reality drew on a wide range of sources encompassing science and mathematics, optics, and western esotericism, including alchemy. While these have been analyzed extensively in the scholarly literature, largely overlooked until now is Asian 'esotericism' (a western term), including Taoist internal alchemy and Indo-Tibetan tantra--mental practices designed to transform erotic energy into mental and spiritual liberation. This book presents an entirely new version of Duchamp, positing that what nourished Duchamp's mysterious art was a personal amalgam of Eastern (Asian) mind training and body energetics designed to precipitate release into a place of creative freedom. The groundbreaking research and close readings of individual works presented here have the potential to change the way this seminal artist is understood, while bringing his self-described art of life to the attention of a wider audience. Although much has been written on Marcel Duchamp, this book is another demonstration that there are still untold things to say and write about an artist who it seems will never be fully explained"--Provided by publisher.