- 4 -

discarded objects - a discarded corkscrew - bicycle wheel - old
bedsprings - color samples etc - and through the placement of these
objects - in juxtaposition to each other - through his great sense of
space - time - and motion - he created a balance of action and reaction -
of flight and repose - which makes it one of the most amazing pictures
of our day. ~~White~~ and through his glass - "La Mariée" - he makes one realize
the futility of trying to possess that which does not belong to the
material world. In the moment one wants to possess or grasps at it - that
moment it eludes one - like smoke, it vanishes into thin air!

Our relationship to the outer and inner world is thus proved. Our
relationship can be addressed to the outer world and its natural
phenomena - or to the inner world - the world of the spirit or the
finer vibrations. for the greatest phenomena is the human phenomena -
What man makes and thinks - and the invasions into this realm of man's
imagination are as mysterious as the stars in the firmament and as solid.
'Condition d'un langage. Rechercher des mots premiers - divisible
seulment par eux mêmes et pour l'unité.' (Duchamp)

An Analytical Meditation
on
Duchamp's Glass
by
Matta Echaurren and Katherine S. Dreier.

The Renaissance brought to human consciousness the full awareness of the organic image of man's own body - the visible structure of the natural world. The whole chain of association was controlled by the physical phenomena and the interest in natural sciences was stimulated and began to grow. In contrast to the natural sciences, phenomenology, which is the science of the transcendental consciousness now helps us to realize the structure of the human spirit.

The essential principles of human consciousness cannot be grasped unless we <u>abandon</u> the psychological attitude of conceiving the image as a petrified thing or object, the result of emphasizing the exterior perception. <u>The image is not a thing</u> - it is an act which <u>must be completed by the spectator</u>. In order to be fully conscious of the phenomenon which the image describes, we ourselves have first of all to fulfill <u>this dynamic act of perception</u>.

Marcel Duchamp is the first to paint the image per se, to be completed by an act of consciousness on the part of the spectator. Prior to this the artist spoke and the on-looker listened for he was not called upon to complete the work of art by his own conscious act.

In his most important work: *La Mariée mise à nu* (paroles libellaires, mèmoires: (Machine Agricole) - we do not find any bride nor agricultural machine, but a disturbing plastic conversation. This the human spirit can only understand by means of poetic reasoning which demands an intentional conscious act on our part. Through this poetic reasoning, the spirit per se realizes the object for its own reality. It is the first attempt to bring to consciousness the image of the essence - which is the essential image of the object, but which cannot be completed except

- 2 -

through the conscious participation by the onlooker.

Painting - glass - mirror - these are the three substances in
dynamic interrelation to the final image of the Glass. While we
gaze upon the bride - there appears through the glass the image of
the room wherein we stand and on the radiating design of the mirror,
lives the image of our own bodies.

This dynamic reality, at once reflecting, enveloping and penetrating
the observer, when grasped by the intentional act of consciousness is
the essence of a spiritual experience. To put our creative forces into
action is the most important goal which the art of the present day can
achieve. The spectator is no longer an on-locker - he is an actual
participant. It must however be recognized that the liberation from
outworn modes of experience comes in proportion to the intensity of
the act of consciousness and the sensitivity of the on-locker.

"Through perspective or through any other conventional means,
the lines of design are forced and lose all their inherent possibilities
with the more irony that the artist himself has chosen the body or
primitive substance which inevitably take shape according to the law
of perspective - rather than by virtue of his, the artist's own will."
(Duchamp).

Duchamp's images are brought to serve the human spirit by simply
disregarding the common use attributed to the object. He has constructed
a small Glass on which he wrote: "A regarder d'un oeil, de près, pendant preface
heure." ...Humour, which is the violent reaction to an unknown
quality, will be the only experience which we will get out of a Glass
by Duchamp, if we refuse to follow him into his "monde jaune...plutot d'."

In Cezanne's "Apples" consciousness is awakened - but in Duchamp's
Glass reality is created by the artist himself for the use of the spirit.
Art which is the material to place in focus the human consciousness, has

- 3 -

changed from the representational - exploitation of the subject - to
dynamic action as a direct shock whereby to release the spirit to its
freedom. Duchamp has found the magic to liberate the images from their
common meaning and to represent the object by an image which is pliable
to the mechanism of consciousness. He has broken the association
between the object and the on-looker and in breaking down these
limitations frees the spirit of man.

Once we understand that the objects are but the instruments the
artist selects to use in search of the Spirit - it is of no interest
to remain on the surface of that which we see. The sensuous shock
should transport the nerve tissues of the finger-tips, the cavity of
the mouth, the calming functioning of the retina - and then beyond!
It is for this that the 'moule malique' and the chocolate grinder are
presented in a sensuous contrast - open to the same kind of speculation
that turpentine and oil surfaces give - only a sensuousness on glass
has an achievement whereby all accidents are eliminated.

In Duchamp's mural - "Tu m'" - the emotion is obtained by the
corkscrew shadow, like candle smoke - and a sign-painter's hand -
actually the work of a sign-painter. To have on one and the same
canvas these two totally different approaches towards one's work
demonstrates clearly the mental and spiritual approach of the artist
towards his work, which differentiates the one from the other. Something
which should be obvious but isn't.

Through his marvelous technique and sense of order Duchamp carries
the on-looker into the deep philosophical truths which underlie all his
works and which are especially emphasized in these two great examples -
the mural - "Tu m'" - and the big glass - "La Mariée". In the mural he
emphasizes the philosophical idea that nothing has value until it passes
through some mind which creates the value. Thus Duchamp took only

- 4 -

discarded objects - a discarded corkscrew - bicycle wheel - old
bedsprings - color samples etc - and through the placement of these
objects - in juxtaposition to each other - through his great sense of
space - time - and motion - he created a balance of action and reaction -
of flight and repose - which makes it one of the most amazing pictures
of our day. And through his glass - "La Mariée" - he makes one realize
the futility of trying to possess that which does not belong to the
material world. The moment one wants to possess or grasps at it -that
moment it eludes one - like smoke, it vanishes into thin air!

Our relationship to the outer and inner world is thus proved. Our
relationship can be addressed to the outer world and its natural
phenomena - or to the inner world - the world of the spirit or the
finer vibrations, for the greatest phenomena is the human phenomena-
what man makes and thinks - and the invasions into this realm of man's
imagination are as mysterious as the stars in the firmament and as solid.

'Condition d'un langage: Recherches des mots premiers - divisibles
seulement par eux mêmes et par l'unité.' (Duchamp)

The essential principles of human consciousness cannot be grasped unless we _abandon_ the psychological attitude of conceiving the image as a petrified thing or object, the result of emphasizing the exterior perception. _The image is not a thing - it is an act which must be completed by the spectator._ In order to be fully conscious of the phenomenon which the image describes, we ourselves have first of all to fulfill _this dynamic act of perception._

Marcel Duchamp is the first to paint the image per se, to be completed by an act of consciousness on the part of the spectator. Prior to this the artist spoke and the on-locker listened for he was not called upon to complete the work of art by his own conscious act.

In his most important work: _La Mariée mise a nue ses celibataires_ memes: (Machine Agricole) - we do not find any bride nor agricultural machine, but a disturbing plastic conversation. This the human spirit can only understand by means of poetic reasoning which demands an intentional conscious act on our part. Through this poetic reasoning, the spirit per se realizes the object for its own quality. It is the first attempt to bring to consciousness the image of the essence - which is the essential image of the object, but which cannot be completed except

- 2 -

This dynamic reality, at once reflecting, enveloping and penetrating
the observer, when grasped by the intentional act of consciousness is
the essence of a spiritual experience. To put our creative forces into
action is the most important goal which the art of the present day can
achieve. <u>The spectator is no longer an on LOOKER - he is an actual</u>
<u>participant. It must however be recognized that the liberation from</u>
<u>outworn modes of experience comes in proportion to the intensity of</u>
<u>the act of consciousness and the sensitivity of the on-looker.</u>

Duchamp's images are brought to serve the human spirit by simply
disregarding the common use attributed to the object. He has constructed
a small Glass on which he wrote: "A regarder d'un œil de que une
heure." ....... Humour, which is the violent reaction to an unknown
quality, will be the only experience which we will get out of a Glass
by Duchamp, if we refuse to follow him into his "monde jaune...plutot d'."

- 3 -

In Duchamp's mural - "Tu m'" - the emotion is obtained by the
corkscREW shadow, like candle smoke - and a sign-painter's hand -
actually the work of a sign-painter. To have on one and the same
canvas these two totally different approaches towards one's work
demonstrates clearly the mental and spiritual approach of the artist
towards his work, which differentiates the one from the other. Something
which should be obvious but isn't.

- 4 -

discarded objects - a discarded corkscrew - bicycle wheel - old
deadsprings - color samples etc - and through the placement of these
objects - in juxtaposition to each other - through his great sense of
space - time - and motion - he created a balance of action and reaction -
of flight and repose - which makes it one of the most amazing pictures
of our day. And through his glass - "La Mariée" - he makes one realize
the futility of trying to possess that which does not belong to the
material world. The moment one wants to possess or grasps at it - that
moment it eludes one - like smoke, it vanishes into thin air!

Our relationship to the outer and inner world is thus proved. Our
relationship can be addressed to the outer world and its natural
phenomena - or to the inner world - the world of the spirit or the
finer vibrations, for the greatest phenomena is the human phenomena-
what man makes and thinks - and the invasions into this realm of man's
imagination are as mysterious as the stars in the firmament and as solid.
'Condition d'un langage. Rechercher des mots premières - divisible
seulment par eux même et pour l'unité.' (Duchamp)