Seen from today's perspective, Marcel Duchamp seems the most influen tial artist of the twentieth century. His critical examination of the condi tions under which art is created and marketed set a trend that has conti nued into the present. It was Duchamp who responded most radically to the changes brought about in the art world by the industrial age. And yet Duchamp was the least spectacular of artists this century has produced to date. Although his work, due to its artistically provocative nature, re ceived an enormous amount of critical attention, his life was surrounded by the legendary Duchamp "wall of silence". While his work already presents a kind of nerve-wracking IQ test for artists and art historians, it certainly remains an enigma to the general public. Even Duchamp's dedi cated patrons were sometimes puzzled.
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