MICHAEL TAYLOR @ UD

CAP – September 15
5:30-6:30pm
Visiting Curator @ UD- Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor is the 20th century art curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Taylor spoke on behalf of the Art History’s lecture series “Fusions in Art: Methods, Criticism, and Culture.” The visiting curator’s lecture entitled “Givens: Robert Gober, Ray Johnson, Hannah Wilke, and the Legacy of Marcel Duchamp’s Etant Donnes” was based in conjunction with the Etant Donnes Symposium and Exhibition at the PMA. The focus on his talk was to look at Etant Donnes in respect to the artists that were influenced by and followed in the wake of Marcel Duchamp. In looking at Etant Donnes in the context of contemporary artists Taylor argued that this work art, which was at times perceived “pornographic” in fact laid the foundation and perhaps even gave some courage to successive artists to show their work which may also have been deemed controversial of pornographic.
Marcel Duchamp took about 20 years to perfect and complete Etant Donnes. During this time Duchamp kept the project a huge secret from everyone except a very select few- these included his lovers whose bodies were used to cast the form of the reclining female figure. Duchamp in fact had made it a point to profess his retirement from, stating that he had “given up on art” in exchange to have “taken up chess”. Due to these reasons Etant Donnes has been such an enigmatic piece of work.
The lure of Etant Donnes has permeated into realm of his successors. Openly homosexual artist, Robert Gober, whose work predominantly dealt with the AIDS epidemic, found solace in perhaps the perceived “violence” and “pornographic” qualities in Etant Donnes. His sculptures which comprise of fragments of realistic male body parts are usually covered with drains (referencing Kaposis Sarcoma) and placed in situations where it looks as though a wall or architectural element has severed the body. Most notably in on of his sculptures the Virgin Mary, flanked by two suitcases, strikingly has a large drainpipe piercing her core. In either suitcase there is an underwater scene with a male figure with a child, however an overlaying drainage grate obstructs the majority of the scene and figures. These carefully planned obstructions in view, resonate in Etant Donnes’s voyeuristic peepholes. Having complete control over the voyeurs gaze, Duchamp strategically placed these peepholes so that there is only one direction to look upon Etant Donnes.
In Hannah Wilke’s feminist critique of Etant Donnes, she is photographed in a position likened to the sprawled nude. This photograph, entitled I object creates a duality in correlation to the imagery. Here this statement can reference the “I object” in that of a courtroom setting, perhaps in reference to Etant Donnes.; or in fact, this statement could be calling the viewers attention to what they are doing “objectifying” the female body. However in this case, the I would stand for Wilke, calling to mind that she has taken it upon herself to acquiesce in the objectification of her own body.
The final artist presented to us, in the legacy of Etant Donnes is Ray Johnson. Taylor recounts a story about how the director of the museum, Anne d’Harnoncour, has received anonymous letters and drawing that referenced the work of Marcel Duchamp and in particular Etant Donnes. With out knowing that it was Ray Johnson creating these overtly sexual-tongue-in-cheek-pun drawings, she had collected them over the years, and kept them safe in a file. The most striking and interesting aspects of these drawings were the repeated use of the pattern on the hatband on the portrait of Duchamp in alter ego as Rrose Selavy. Years after he had finally revealed himself- these drawings are currently on display at the Etant Donnes Exhibition at the PMA. However perhaps one of his culminating gestures in response to Duchamp’s legacy was his creation of the official Marcel Duchamp Fan Club. (I want to join that club!!!)