Bicycle Wheel
Encyclopedia
Bicycle Wheel is a readymade
by Marcel Duchamp
consisting of a bicycle fork with front wheel mounted upside-down on a wooden stool.
In 1913 at his Paris studio he mounted the bicycle wheel upside down onto a stool, spinning it occasionally just to watch it. Later he denied that its creation was purposeful, though it has come to be known as the first of his readymades
. "I enjoyed looking at it," he said. "Just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in the fireplace." It was not until he began making readymades a few years later in New York that he decided Bicycle Wheel was a readymade.
The original from 1913 was lost, and Duchamp recreated the sculpture in 1951.
Bicycle Wheel is said to be the first kinetic sculpture.
Readymades of Marcel Duchamp
The readymades of Marcel Duchamp are ordinary manufactured objects that the artist selected and modified, as an antidote to what he called "retinal art". By simply choosing the object and repositioning or joining, titling and signing it, the object became art...
by Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
consisting of a bicycle fork with front wheel mounted upside-down on a wooden stool.
In 1913 at his Paris studio he mounted the bicycle wheel upside down onto a stool, spinning it occasionally just to watch it. Later he denied that its creation was purposeful, though it has come to be known as the first of his readymades
Readymades of Marcel Duchamp
The readymades of Marcel Duchamp are ordinary manufactured objects that the artist selected and modified, as an antidote to what he called "retinal art". By simply choosing the object and repositioning or joining, titling and signing it, the object became art...
. "I enjoyed looking at it," he said. "Just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in the fireplace." It was not until he began making readymades a few years later in New York that he decided Bicycle Wheel was a readymade.
The original from 1913 was lost, and Duchamp recreated the sculpture in 1951.
Bicycle Wheel is said to be the first kinetic sculpture.
External links
- Wheel in the MoMA Online Collection
- Kinetic Bicycle Wheel Hommage a Duchamp, Tinguely, et Ganson
- version of the wheel by Rafaël Rozendaal
- close to duchamp's bicycle by Les Liens Invisibles