The work under consideration in the following paper named “Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 3)” is completed by Marcel Duchamp in 1916 (“Nude Descending a Staircase” par. 1). It is accomplished in pen, black paint, black ink, graphite, blue wash, and colored crayon on gelatin silver photograph with dimensions of 148.1 x 91.8 centimeters (“Nude Descending a Staircase” par. 1). Currently, the picture can be found in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The picture is a typical example of the Cubism art movement, which can be seen in the way it is finished including the lines, the shapes, the colors, the choice of medium, the interplay between its parts, the use of non-representational images, and the concept of abstraction. This picture is created by Marcel Duchamp on the basis of his previous work “Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2)” for famous collectors and his sponsors, Louise and Walter Arensberg. The actual method of its creation is drawing above the enlarged photo print of “Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2)”, which makes it a piece of art of great complexity with numerous layers and mediums, difficult to be stored in museum conditions (“Marcel Duchamp” 90).
In this image, Marcel Duchamp uses a variety of lines, shapes, textures, and low saturation colors, and concentrates on their value to make up the Gestalt unity of the picture, which is a typical method for graphic art and 2-D design, where only two dimensions present significance for an artist (“Marcel Duchamp” 91). This method is also very impressive in communicating emotions, narrative, and thoughts of a painter because it makes a viewer concentrate one’s attention on the message, input by a master into one’s painting. This is achieved due to the absence of elements that may destruct the viewer’s attention such as high color saturation, the use of bright oil paints, and the use of visual effects of 3-D design. Besides, the painting is characterized by the high level of abstraction and the use of non-objective images that also adds to emphasizing the philosophic ideas, implicated in it and its symbolism. Reflecting on the above-mentioned details, it is not difficult to understand that the picture is not similar to the rest of the works of art, surrounding it in the museum, as they are completed in accordance to different designer concepts; in different art styles; and different materials and techniques are applied for accomplishing them. The conceptualism of Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 3)” with its many layers, done by different painting techniques, used by the painter to conceal the elements of photo composition of its thumbnail sketch, is what makes this painting one of a kind in comparison to all the other pictures in the museum hall.
As a final point, it should be stated that the artwork under consideration features a variety of attractive characteristics including the method of its finishing, the medium used, and the deep philosophic ideas that Marcel Duchamp implicated in it. Studying the image, I came to the conclusion that the artist made the right decision concerning the method of its accomplishment and the abundance of different materials used for it. I do not find any better ideas regarding completing this painting and realizing the philosophic thoughts of cubism, depicted in it, by means of a different design format or any better method because it is rather difficult to do it on the basis of an enlarged photo print.
References
“Marcel Duchamp.” Monkeyshines On Art & Great Artists (2001): 89-98. Print.
Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 3) 2012. Web.