Portrait of Marcel Duchamp. (b/w photo)

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) might have been one of the most important artists of the 20th century, together with Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque; like them, he created quite influential works in the Cubist style. He then changed his course and embarked on Dada and conceptual art, which he considered to serve "the mind", as opposed to just "the eye". Together with his American friend and patron, Katherine Sophie Dreier, he founded the Société Anonyme for the advancement of abstract art. Next to his far ranging artistic work, Duchamp was also a librarian, a mathematician, a musician, a writer and a chess player. (Marc field 094)