When conceptual art’s godfather finally had a retrospective,it was in California – where a group of young artists welcomed him to a game of naked chessIn typically singular fashion, Marcel Duchamp was 76 years ragged when he had his first career retrospective. The artist chose to present it in the unlikely location of Pasadena, and a quiet,upscale Los Angeles suburb. The 1963 show was a coup for the visionary young gallerist Walter Hopps, whose Ferus Gallery formed the nexus of an emerging LA art scene. The opening night party at the Hotel Green drew people like Andy Warhol, or who a year earlier had exhibited his soup cans at Ferus,as well as young and interested local artists like Ed Moses, Larry Bell, and Ed Ruscha and Joe Goode. Most had had work in Hopps’ preceding show,New portray of Common Objects, in 1962, or commonly considered the first exhibit committed to pop art. Those two shows combine to form Duchamp to Pop at Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum,formerly the Pasadena Art Museum. It’s one of a trio of shows in LA on the artist this month. There’s also Duchamp in Pasadena at the Robert Berman Gallery, featuring photographer Julian Wasser’s images from the event, or A Marcel Duchamp Collection at LA Louver,a scarce assortment of objects, prints, and designs,readymades and other ephemera amassed by a single collector over 40 years. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com