Duchamp - The Large Glass

Duchamp's Large Glass (The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even) strikes me as a good source of material for art critics and historians, but a frustrating, and not particularly satisfying, experience for the average viewer. Duchamp intended that the work be understood intellectually, and not only visually, but the complex notes and diagrams that would give the viewer some starting point for thinking about the work were simply thrown in a box and were never, as I understand it, put into a form that made them readily accessible to the viewer. The author of the Duchamp biography agrees that "[t]he notes from the Green Box are essential to any understanding of The Large Glass...They constitute the verbal dimension of a work that is as much verbal as visual...." Without the notes, the work is essentially incomprehensible, as the viewer is provided only with the enigmatic title. Duchamp was interested in the power of titles to grab the viewer's attention and encourage contemplation, and the title in this case does do that to a degree. But it is hard to get very far without further guidance.

Before reading the biography, my reaction to the work was that it was an extreme example of Duchamp's interest in playing with the power of titles to engage the intellect and force the viewer to search for meaning. It is clear that the image suggests something mechanical, and the top panel seemed, to me, to contain something suggestive of a banner for displaying messages or proclamations. To me, the fact that the posted messages in the banner are empty ("stripped bare") seemed, perhaps, to be Duchamp's way of mocking the idea that art must have important messages or meanings to convey (along the lines of his readymades). I drew from that idea the message that this exalted thing--"art"--might be symbolized by the bride referenced in the title (cultural symbol of something that is idolized/idealized/full of symbols and imagery (e.g. white dress, veil, ring, etc.)) who is being stripped bare. Duchamp, in other words, was stripping "art" free of the need to have meaning.

After reading the biography and the summary of Duchamp's Green Box, however, it was clear to me that my interpretation was not at all what Duchamp intended. Quite to the contrary, Duchamp specifically intended the work to be understood as a cerebral, as well as visual, exercise, and that the work is, in fact, deeply embedded with meaning. This understanding left me feeling frustrated that I, as a viewer, did not have access to the Green Box in order to have the "cerebral" experience that Duchamp intended. The painting did engage my mind on some level, but the meanings I injected into the work did not really capture anything that Duchamp had in mind when creating it. The complex workings of the machinery and their metaphorical significance are interesting (though far from completely understood), and it seems that the average viewer has been deprived of the opportunity to fully experience the work. This is curious, as Duchamp believed that the viewer was an essential part of any work of art--that the viewer's interpretation was necessary to complete the work. If Duchamp truly wanted the viewer to the part of the experience of "completing" the Large Glass through his or her interpretation of it, giving the viewer access to materials that are essential to a level of understanding beyond wild guesswork seems necessary. Not having done so adds to my impression of Duchamp as someone who values the freedom of the artist to create far more than the experience of the viewer who will behold those creations.