Erotic Art Entry: Part 4

Cisgender may be a buzzword nowadays; however, Marcel Duchamp was crossdressing almost one-hundred years before it was trendy. Part 4 takes us down a rabbit hole of salaciousness, whimsy, lipstick, and gender obfuscation. 

For more information regarding these entries, art history classes, and gallery and museum tours, please contact me at cherise@nu-garde.com.
___________________________________________________________________________

1     Rrose Sélavy (Marcel Duchamp). 1921. Photograph by Man Ray. Art direction by Marcel Duchamp. Silver print. 5-7/8" x 3-7/8". Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Photo Courtesy of WikiArt

Imagine you’re at a seedy bar. The dusk is about to break and you’ve nearly broken your wallet on countless shots of glorified moonshine. In strolls a dame with mysterious eyes and a sashay to her step that loosely spells s-e-x. As she makes her way toward the bar, you feel yourself rising off the stool, in more ways than one. You approach this sultry sex kitten; but as you edge closer, as Miss Clavel from Madeline would state, ‘Something is not quite right.’ You could see a 5 o’clock shadow sprouting up from underneath those heavy layers of matte foundation; the hand that she’s using to pick up the champagne glass looks as though a football would be more appropriate in its palm; the protrusion from her neck as she gulps down the liquor swill is undulating. That dame is a dude!

Sexuality, besides being personal, is also quite amorphous. The fluid nature of gender can be explored through Marcel Duchamp’s transvestite escapades as Rose Sélavy. The pseudonym alone is a pun, sounding like the French phrase “Eros, c’est la vie,” or “Eros, that’s life.” It can also be pronounced “arroser la vie,” which is to make a toast to life. Either way, Duchamp is tricking the audience with his artistic linguistics as in The Fountain (1917) or a glorified urinal. 

____________________________________________________________