An engaging and accessible introduction to one of the 20th century's greatest and most enigmatic artists This richly illustrated publication explores the full career of the hugely influential and endlessly fascinating French-American artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968). A pioneer whose creative output was predicated on a fundamental questioning of what art is, Duchamp is well known despite remaining mysterious as an artist, owing to his elusive persona and the unconventional nature of his work. Focusing on the world-renowned Duchamp collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Essential Duchamp tells the artist's story through four key periods. The book begins with his early paintings and engagement with the avant-garde, then charts his abandonment of painting and invention of the readymade. This is followed by the creation of his alter ego Rrose Selavy and the optical experiments of the interwar years, and, finally, by the making of Etant donnes (1946-66), the project that occupied the artist in the final two decades of his life. Shorter accompanying texts include explanations of key terms Duchamp used for his innovative ideas-readymade, precision optics, pictorial nominalism, and infrathin-as well as interviews and statements by the artist about his own art and ideas. Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Tokyo National Museum (10/02/18-12/09/18) National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (12/22/18-04/07/19) Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney (April-August 2019)

The first in-depth examination of Matisse's work in the 1930s, a key decade of creative innovation and renewal for this celebrated artist In 1930, as Henri Matisse (1869-1954) embarked on The Dance, a monumental mural commissioned by the American collector Albert C. Barnes, he began experimenting in ways that would permanently change the nature of his work. The use of pre-painted cut papers to lay out his compositions led to a new style of flat tones and bold shapes. He also increasingly used serial imagery to make visible his creative process, aiming to capture the flux of his own perceptions and emotions in the work of art. This volume highlights and explains pivotal transformations in Matisse's work in the 1930s across a range of media, including mural and easel painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and the illustrated book. The transatlantic contributors also look at the relationship between Matisse and the Parisian art journal Cahiers d'art, which played an outsized role in publicizing Matisse's work during this period, and consider his exhibitions, his ongoing involvement with decorative painting, his studio as a creative laboratory, and the role of his model and muse Lydia Delectorskaya in his studio practice. Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Musees d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie Exhibition Schedule: Philadelphia Museum of Art (October 20, 2022-January 29, 2023) Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris (February 28-May 29, 2023) Musee Matisse, Nice (June 23-September 24, 2023)