The French artist Marcel Duchamp painted the piece of art titled, “Nude Descending a Staircase” in 1912. The subject matter for this piece of art is a body in motion walking down a staircase. The art was created in France and then later displayed in New York City’s 69^th Regiment Armory. The painting is currently located in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The painting was created with oil paint on canvas. 

 

The painting shows a Cubist inspired rendition of a nude female walking down a spiral staircase, in blurred motion. The figure is compiled of various geometric layered and organically arranged shapes starting from the near top left in a diagonal motion to the bottom right of the canvas.

 

The colors used are colors of skin tone, browns, and tans. This fits the subject matter precisely to emphasize the amount of skin showing. The separation of the shapes are marked with black strokes of paint. Some strokes are curved while others are more angular. A large part of the strokes are vertical and long to communicate the shape of the body. The value of the figure brightens towards the lower right corner of the composition. This implies the figure is most recently in the shapes with lighter values. In contrast, the shapes with darker values show where the figure had been, farther back in time. The shapes within the figure contain a variety of different values to imply three-dimensionality. The visible texture of the painting is sharp and jagged because of the angular, geometric shapes and lines. At the same time, the texture is flowing and smooth because of the implication of motion shown through each transition of movement. The composition fills the entire canvas space which scales the subject to appear large and grand. 

 

The painting has qualities of unity in its consistency of line and shape, as well as color. There is variety in value of color and position of shapes. Repetition is shown in the similar or same shaped parts of the figure being repeated in a direction. Balance is achieved by the diagonal direction of the figure reaching all corners of the composition. There is an emphasis on the light valued figure shapes to show the figure’s location is in the most recent area of time. The stairs are subordinated to give more attention to the figure than to distract from the main subject. The rhythm of the painting is broken and choppy in the transition of the figure. Each phase of time shows a slightly different expression of motion. The contrast shown in the black outlining of the shapes helps define the separation areas. 

 

The painting communicated realistic motion of the human figure walking in a motionless context. Although the figure had exaggerated proportions, the motion was accurate to the choppy nature of movement when walking. The blurry effect of the figure was created effectively to imply motion of the figure. This painting is on a tie between Abstract Cubism and being representational. Elements of both styles of art are shown in this painting exceptionally well. 

·       The painting became successful, largely due to the “scandal” it became

·       The Painting was exhibited in the New York City 69^th Regiment Armory Show

·       The painting was a push away from traditional art 

·       The motion of the figure is compared to cinematic motion that hadn’t been common yet. 

·       The painting abandons any resemblances of nature 

·       The painting is sometimes compared to the photography of Eadweard Muybridge who invented the camera shutter in 1882. His work is the beginning of time-lapse photography 

·       The painting is also compared to the sculpture by Umbertro Boccioni Unique Forms of Continuity in Space in the way it conveyed motion

·       The painting was unpopular in France but very popular in America 

·       Duchamp showed the idea of industrialization in the form of a delicate subject such as a nude female body. This was a way of challenging traditional art practices 

 

2. Be “true” to your materials.

3. “Less is more.”

2. Alliance between art and technology

3. Scientific investigation in the classroom

He used abstract photography "Photogram"

2. View the creative act as a magical experience.

3. Combine the outer experience of the world with 

an inner vision, which can be expressed in the 

very process of creation.
4. Paul Klee saw the creative act as a magical experience; 

teachers at the Bauhaus also sought to bring a magical element into the classroom. (at Bauhaus)

2. There is a spiritual, universal connection 

between shape and color

3. Triangles are inherently yellow, circles are 

inherently blue, and squares are inherently red 

(not all of his colleagues agreed!)

reproduceable. Design = Form + Function

2. Design should be beautiful and affordable

fine art and commercial art 
2. Helped to develop the new field of graphic 

design (form + function)
3. Herbert Bayer created Sans Serif Type

2. Transformation of dancers into abstracted, 

kinetic sculptures

3. Emphasis on clarity of form and the geometric 

precision of machines

2. Integration of fine arts and craft, industry and 

design.

3. Machine aesthetic (harmony of craftsmanship and mass production) 
4.Design = form + function, "minimal" isn't an aesthetic, it is the whole point: to strip it to it's bare essentials. 

5. Collaborative, community-minded approach

6. Affordable Design

7. Belief that art could improve society

The school was cancelled by the Nazis in 1933.