Analysis of Nude Descending a Staircase

This essay provides an analysis of Marcel Duchamp's painting Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2, exploring its influences from Cubism and Futurism and its significance in the art world. The painting is considered one of Duchamp's finest works.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE
Analysis of Nude Descending a Staircase
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANALYSIS OF NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE
Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 is one of the paintings painted by Marcel
Duchamp in the year 1912. Marcel Duchamp was a French American artist, painter as well as
a writer and chess player whose works are mainly associated with the concepts of Cubism,
Dada as well as the concept of the conceptual art. He was born in Normandy in France in the
year 1887. He and his siblings all became successful artists. Duchamp started schooling at the
Lycee Pierre Corneille in Rouen at the age of eight years. Since he won a prize for painting in
the year 1903, he decided to become an artist himself. Duchamp started his training of
painting from his brother Jacques Villon as Duchamp wanted to imitate his brother’s fluid as
well as detailed art style. Duchamp, at the age of fourteen, started his painting with the help
of water colours as well as indulged himself in making Impressionist paintings himself. His
painting in the year at the age of fourteen as once which he learned during this time.
The purpose of this essay is to analyse and Marcel Duchamp’s painting which
goes by the name of Nude Descending Staircase No. 2.
The painting of Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 is a oil painting painted by
Duchamp on a canvas by the size of 147 cm × 89.2 cm (57.9 in × 35.1 in) in portrait which
depicted a figure showing its abstract movement with the help of its ochres and browns.
Duchamp indeed had a specific process when he created the painting himself. This included
the combination of the painting with both elements of Cubism as well as Futurist movements.
In addition to those concepts, the stop-mot5ion photography of Etienne Jules-Mary was also
used by Duchamp in the picture itself to show the human figure in motion especially from
Muybridge’s 1887 Woman Walking Downstairs picture series in the year 1887.
The painting Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 is considered to be one of the finest
arts of the modern centuries by the painter Marcel Duchamp. As stated by Holler (130), the
painting is regarded as one of the modernist classics which was first rejected when it was

2ANALYSIS OF NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE
presented in 1912 at the Salon Des Independants in Paris itself. In the recent times, the
painting has been considered to be consisting of the elements of both Cubist and Futurist
Movements itself (Judovitz, 4). However, it was also believed that the painting once came
close to the painting influences made by the Italian Futurism although that was later denied
by Duchamp himself on the ground that there was no Italian influences since the distance
between the two countries was great.
Duchamp’s pain ting had a great influence on the time period in which he had made
the painting himself. The painting was considered to be capturing a lot of attention fopr its
portrayal of the nude. However, it was considered far from the concepts of modern art in the
art schools of United States itself. The subject matter of the artwork consisted of a figure
demonstrating abstract movements with their body parts, assembled together to make sure
that the movement of the figure is merging into the self. As stated by Gunderman (140), the
painter has created the centre of the stage with a collection of light and dark which were more
pronounced at the centre of the images itself. The painter has sculpted the words “NU
DESCENDANT EN ESCALIER” which might or might not have been relevant to the
painting made by the painter himself. The question posed by “NU” remains unanswered
because the identity of the body as male or female still remains unanswered.
The ideal/politic/ religion of the time of the creation is that it had led to dozens of
parodies being made in the years that followed the painting. Also the painting was
scandalized in New York City because of the Americans accustomed to naturalistic art more
than that of Cubist and Futuristic art forms. Therefore, the American media offered prizes to
anyone who could find the nude ion the painting made by Duchamp (Carrick, 135).
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Nude Descending a Staircase
No: 2 is one of the finest yet controversial paintings that was being made by Duchamp. This

3ANALYSIS OF NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE
painting is not only one of the best works in the career of Marcel Duchamp but also a
painting that incorporates the elements of both Cubism and Futurism in the art of the
painting. Hence, the painting is indeed considered to be one of the best by the French
American painter Marcel Duchamp.

4ANALYSIS OF NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE
Reference List
Carrick, Samantha. "“There is no thing that with a twist of the imagination cannot be
something else”: The Onanistic Abstraction of Duchamp and Williams." William
Carlos Williams Review 32.1-2 (2015): 135-158.
Gunderman, Richard B., and Aimebenomon O. Idahosa. "How art can educate the
radiologist's eye: Duchamp's “Nude Descending a Staircase”." Academic radiology
25.1 (2018): 136-138.
Holler, Manfred J. "Paternalism, gamification, or art: An introductory note." Homo
Oeconomicus 32.2 (2015): 275-283.
Judovitz, Dalia. "Marcel Duchamp: War, Trauma, and the Question of Art."
Dada/Surrealism 22.1 (2018): 4.