What Duchamp Abandoned for the Waterfall

In 1946, Duchamp photographed the waterfall Le Forestay for Étant donnés. This volume features photographs of the landscape neighboring the waterfall.

During his stay in Switzerland in 1946, Marcel Duchamp (18871986) spent a few days at the Hotel Bellevue in Chexbres, high above Lake Geneva and overlooking one of Switzerland's most famous vistas. The nearby waterfall Le Forestay inspired Duchamp to create his last great masterwork, the assemblage Étant donnés: 1. La chute d'eau, 2. Le gaz d'éclairage. Duchamp photographed the scenery and included the images in his enigmatic work that has been permanently installed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 1969. His three-dimensional environmental tableau offers an unforgettable and untranslatable experience to those who peer through the small two holes in its solid wooden door.

Years later the artist duo Caroline Bachmann and Stefan Banz set out to reverse the situation. They discovered exactly where Duchamp stood with his camera, and over several years they took countless pictures of what the artist had turned his back on, the breathtaking views over the lake. Their work What Duchamp Abandoned for the Waterfall consists of many color photographs of one of Switzerland's most extraordinary landscapes. This companion book presents one hundred striking images as well as an essay by the art critic Luc Debraine, who examines the artists' research in dialogue with Duchamp's Étant donnés, analyzing how Duchamp made use of the location for his artistic intentions and what photographing this particular waterfall meant to him.

«Eine faszinierende Duchamp-Hommage, die die unfassbar gegensätzlichen Spektren des Lichts und die unendliche Vielfalt der zarten, kühlen, öligen oder dramatischen Stimmungen über dem See zur Chronologie eines fiktiven Tages vom Morgengrauen bis zum Abendrot verdichten.» Dietrich Roeschmann, artline Kunstmagazin

«Einer der schönsten Bildbände, die vom Genfersee zu haben sind.» Annabelle

Autorentext

Caroline Bachmann, born in Lausanne, Switzerland, did her artistic education at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Geneva, Switzerland. She has been working in Spain 1987-90 where she co-founded the agency V.I.T.R.I.O.L. in Barcelona in 1990, and in Italy 1991-2002, participating in the ORESTE projects in Rome 1997-2000 that were featured in the Italian pavillion at the Venice Biennale 1999. Her work has been presented in solo and group shows in Italy and Switzerland. She has been a professor painting and drawing at the Haute Ecole d'Art et de Design in Geneva since 2007. Stefan Banz, born in Sursee near Lucerne, Switzerland, read art history, German literature and literary criticism at the University of Zurich. He was co-founder of the museum of contemporary art Kunsthalle Luzern in Lucerne in 1989 and the museum's artistic director 1989-93. He has been working as a self-taught freelance artist since 1993, using various media and techniques (photography, video, painting, installation). He has been awarded various prizes for his work which has been presented internationally in solo and group shows. Banz was appointed as curator for the Swiss pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2005 and works also as a writer of fiction and dramatic works and of critical texts on art and artists.

Klappentext

Marcel Duchamp verbrachte 1946 fünf Wochen in der Schweiz, davon fünf Tage im Hotel Bellevue in der Nähe von Chexbres, hoch über dem Genfersee und mit Aussicht auf eine der schönsten Landschaften der Schweiz. Der nahe gelegene, durch die felsigen Weinberge des Lavaux in die Tiefe stürzende Wasserfall Le Forestay inspirierte den Dadaisten zu seinem letzten grossen Meisterwerk, "Étant donnés: 1. La chute d'eau, 2. Le gaz d'éclairage". Der Künstler fotografierte den Wasserfall und machte ihn zum Ausgangspunkt seiner enigmatischen Installation, die seit 1969 im Philadelphia Museum of Art steht. Caroline Bachmann und Stefan Banz haben nun den Ort eruiert, wo Duchamp seinerzeit gestanden hat - und die Ausgangslage umgedreht: Sie fotografierten mehrere Jahre lang die atemberaubende Aussicht, der Duchamp damals den Rücken zukehrte. Das Künstlerbuch zeigt aus diesem Work in Progress hundert Farbfotografien von Genfersee, Waadtländer-, Walliser- und Savoyeralpen in chromatischer Abfolge. Es sind dramatische Stimmungsbilder einer Region, die zu den attraktivsten und aussergewöhnlichsten Europas zählt. Ein Essay beschreibt, was es mit Duchamps Meisterwerk auf sich hat und warum er gerade diesen Wasserfall für sein Werk fotografierte.

Zusammenfassung

In 1946, Duchamp photographed the waterfall Le Forestay for Étant donnés . This volume features photographs of the landscape neighboring the waterfall.