In 1913, Marcel Duchamp's work "Nude Descending a Staircase" shook the American art world. This is the story of how the painting followed him to New York two years later, enchanting the Arensberg salon and—almost accidentally—changing art forever.
In 1915, a group of French artists fled the increasingly war-torn Europe for New York. In the few months before the US entered the war in April 1917, they pushed the boundaries of what was possible, both in life and in art. At the center of this transformation was the apartment at 33 West 67th Street, owned by Walter and Louise Arensberg, where artists and poets met every evening to talk, eat, drink, discuss their work, play chess, plan dances and exhibitions, and fall in love.
At the heart of this activity was the enigmatic figure of Marcel Duchamp, always approachable, always elusive. His exhibition of a urinal, which he called Fountain, briefly stunned the New York art world before it and its creator fell into obscurity. Many people (of any gender) were in love with Duchamp. Among them were Henri-Pierre Roché and Beatrice Wood, and they were also, briefly, and (for her) subversively in love with each other.
Both kept daily diary notes, offering an intimate view of the events of those years. Or rather two views—as the perspectives they provide, including their own love affair, are strikingly opposite. "Spellbound by Marcel" follows Duchamp, Roché, and Beatrice through the course of the 20th century. Roché became the author of "Jules and Jim," which was turned into a film by François Truffaut. Beatrice became a recognized ceramist. Duchamp faded into chess-playing obscurity until, decades later, he became famous again—as Fountain was voted the most influential artwork of the 20th century.
‘Breezily entertaining...There’s a fabulous cast of supporting characters on this busy stage’ - The Spectator ‘A delicious and deeply researched portrait of its time’ - New York Times ‘Part drama, part page-turning history, this paints the complexities of art and love in a seductive light’ - Publishers Weekly
