On this day in 1968, painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer Marcel Duchamp died in his home in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France at the age of 81. Born Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp on 28 July 1887 in Blainville-Crevon, France. His work is associated with Cubism, conceptual art, and Dada. In my opinion he, along with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, are the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century. By World War I, he had rejected the work of many of his fellow artists as “retinal” art, intended only to please the eye. Instead, Duchamp wanted to use art to serve the mind.
Three Duchamp brothers, left to right: Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon, and Raymond Duchamp-Villon in the garden of Jacques Villon’s studio in Puteaux, France, 1914, (Smithsonian Institution collections)
Marcel Duchamp, Nude (Study), Sad Young Man on a Train (Nu [esquisse], jeune homme triste dans un train), 1911–12, oil on cardboard mounted on Masonite, 100 x 73 cm (39 3/8 × 28 3/4 in), Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. This painting was identified as a self-portrait by the artist. Duchamp’s primary concern in this painting is the depiction of two movements; that of the train in which there is a young man smoking, and that of the lurching figure itself.
Marcel Duchamp. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912). Oil on canvas. 57 7/8″ x 35 1/8″. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Rrose Sélavy (Marcel Duchamp), 1921 photograph by Man Ray, art direction by Marcel Duchamp, silver print, 5-7/8″ x 3″-7/8″, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Man Ray, 1920, Three Heads(Joseph Stella and Marcel Duchamp, painting bust portrait of Man Ray above Duchamp), gelatin silver print, 20.7 x 15.7 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Duchamp was a passionate smoker of Habana cigars.
In June 1927, Duchamp married Lydie Sarazin-Lavassor; however, they divorced six months later. It was rumored that Duchamp had chosen a marriage of convenience, because Sarazin-Lavassor was the daughter of a wealthy automobile manufacturer. Early in January 1928, Duchamp said that he could no longer bear the responsibility and confinement of marriage, and they were soon divorced.
Between 1946 and 1951 Maria Martins was his mistress.
In 1954, he and Alexina “Teeny” Sattler married. They remained together until his death.
After an evening dining at home with his friends Man Ray and Robert Lebel, Duchamp retired at 1:05 A.M., collapsed in his studio, and died of heart failure.
Étant donnés, 1946–1966, mixed media, posthumously and permanently installed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1969
The Final Footprint
Duchamp’s gravestone Cimetière Monumentale, Rouen, France with the epitaph, D’ailleurs, c’est toujours les autres qui meurent (Besides, it’s always the others who die). Other notable final footprints at Monumentale include; Gustave Flaubert, Duchamp’s sister Suzanne Duchamp, brother Raymond Duchamp-Villon, and brother Jacques Villon.
Gallery
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Marcel Duchamp, 1910, Joueur d’échecs (The Chess Game), oil on canvas, 114 x 146.5 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art
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Marcel Duchamp, 1911, La sonate (Sonata), oil on canvas, 145.1 x 113.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Exhibited at Exposició d’Art Cubista, Barcelona, Galeries Dalmau, Barcelona, 1912 (reproduced in catalogue)
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Marcel Duchamp, 1912, Le Roi et la Reine entourés de Nus vites(The King and Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes), oil on canvas, 114.6 x 128.9 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art
- #RIP #OTD in 1981 jazz/classical pianist, singer, actress (Rhapsody in Blue, The Hazel Scott Show), civil rights/McCarthyism activist Hazel Scott died of cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan aged 61. Flushing Cemetery, New York.
On this day in 1985 Academy Award nominated actor Rock Hudson died from AIDS-related complications at his home The Castle in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 59. Born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. on 17 November 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois. The 6 foot 5 inch tall actor was one of the most popular and well-known movie stars of his time. He completed nearly 70 films and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned over four decades. My favorite Rock Hudson movies include: Giant, A Farewell to Arms, and The Undefeated. Giant, perhaps my all-time favorite movie, is based on the novel by Edna Ferber. Along with Hudson the movie features Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Dennis Hopper, and Chill Wills.
The Final Footprint – Hudson was cremated and his cremains were scattered in the channel between Wilmington and Santa Catalina Island. A cenotaph was installed at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Boulevard. Taylor purchased a bronze plaque for Hudson on the West Hollywood Memorial Walk. Other notable final footprints at FLCCC include; Dinah Shore, Jerry Vale, and Jane Wyman.
On this day in 1998 singer, actor, The Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry died of lymphoma 3 days after his 91st birthday at his home in Studio City, California. Born Orvon Grover Autry on 29 September 1907 in Tioga, Texas. Autry gained fame as a singing cowboy on the radio, in movies, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was also owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997. From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films and 91 episodes of The Gene Autry Show television series. During the 1930s and 1940s, he personified the straight-shooting hero—honest, brave, and true—and profoundly touched the lives of millions of Americans. Autry was also probably one of the most important figures in the history of country music. His singing cowboy movies were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience. In addition to his signature song, “Back in the Saddle Again”, Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, “Here Comes Santa Claus”, which he wrote, “Frosty the Snowman”, and his biggest hit, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. Autry is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance. The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma was named in his honor.
The Final Footprint – Autry is interred in the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. His grave is marked by a flat bronze individual marker and is engraved thusly; AMERICA’S FAVORITE COWBOY / AMERICAN HERO PHILANTHROPIST PATRIOT AND VETERAN MOVIE STAR SINGER COMPOSER BASEBALL FAN AND OWNER 33RD DEGREE MASON MEDIA ENTREPRENEUR LOVING HUSBAND GENTLEMAN A BELIEVER IN OUR WESTERN HERITAGE. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Buck Henry, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson, Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, and Paul Walker.
#RIP #OTD in 2005 playwright (Fences (1987, The Piano Lesson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), August Wilson died from liver cancer at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. Greenwood Cemetery, Pittsburgh
On this day in 2017, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor, and member of the Traveling Wilburys, Tom Petty died from a heart attack caused by an accidental overdose at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California at the age of 66. Born Thomas Earl Petty on October 20, 1950 in Gainesville, Florida. He was the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch.
Petty recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. In his career, he sold more than 80 million records worldwide. He and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
Petty (center) with the Heartbreakers in 1977
Petty performing at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia, 2006
Petty performing in San Francisco in 2016
Petty married Jane Benyo in 1974, and they divorced in 1996. Benyo once told mutual friend Stevie Nicks that she had met Petty at “the age of seventeen”. Nicks misheard Benyo’s North Florida accent, inspiring the title of her song “Edge of Seventeen”. Petty married Dana York on June 3, 2001.
The Final Footprint
Petty’s funeral took place at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles on October 16, 2017. He was cremated and his cremains were given to his family.
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