L.H.O.O.Q. (French pronunciation:[ɛlaʃooky]) is a work of art by Marcel Duchamp. First conceived in 1919, the work is one of what Duchamp referred to as readymades, or more specifically a rectified ready-made.[2] The readymade involves taking mundane, often utilitarian objects not generally considered to be art and transforming them, by adding to them, changing them, or (as in the case of his most famous work Fountain) simply renaming and reorienting them and placing them in an appropriate setting.[3] In L.H.O.O.Q. the found object (objet trouvé) is a cheap postcard reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's early 16th-century painting Mona Lisa onto which Duchamp drew a moustache and beard in pencil and appended the title.[4]
Marcel Duchamp, 1919, L.H.O.O.Q.[1]Marcel Duchamp, 1919, L.H.O.O.Q., published in 391, n. 12, March 1920
Eugène Bataille, La Joconde fumant la pipe, Le Rire, 1887
The subject of the Mona Lisa treated satirically had already been explored in 1887 by Eugène Bataille [fr] (aka Sapeck) when he created Mona Lisa smoking a pipe, published in Le Rire.[5] It is not clear, however, if Duchamp was familiar with Sapeck's work.
The name of the piece, L.H.O.O.Q., is a gramogram; the letters pronounced in French sound like "Elle a chaud au cul", "She is hot in the arse",[6] or "She has a hot ass";[7] "avoir chaud au cul" is a vulgar expression implying that a woman has sexual restlessness. In a late interview (Schwarz 203), Duchamp gives a loose translation of L.H.O.O.Q. as "there is fire down below".
Francis Picabia, in an attempt to publish L.H.O.O.Q. in his magazine 391 could not wait for the work to be sent from New York City, so with the permission of Duchamp, drew the moustache on Mona Lisa himself (forgetting the goatee). Picabia wrote underneath "Tableau Dada par Marcel Duchamp". Duchamp noticed the missing goatee. Two decades later, Duchamp corrected the omission on Picabia's replica, found by Jean Arp at a bookstore. Duchamp drew the goatee in black ink with a fountain pen, and wrote "Moustache par Picabia / barbiche par Marcel Duchamp / avril 1942".[1]
As was the case with a number of his readymades, Duchamp made multiple versions of L.H.O.O.Q. of differing sizes and in different media throughout his career, one of which, an unmodified black and white reproduction of the Mona Lisa mounted on card, is called L.H.O.O.Q. Shaved. The masculinized female introduces the theme of gender reversal, which was popular with Duchamp, who adopted his own female pseudonym, Rrose Sélavy, pronounced "Eros, c'est la vie" ("Eros, that's life").[2]
Primary responses to L.H.O.O.Q. interpreted its meaning as being an attack on the iconic Mona Lisa and traditional art,[8] a stroke of épater le bourgeois promoting the Dadaist ideals. According to one commentator:
The creation of L.H.O.O.Q. profoundly transformed the perception of La Joconde (what the French call the painting, in contrast with the Americans and Germans, who call it the Mona Lisa). In 1919 the cult of Jocondisme was practically a secular religion of the French bourgeoisie and an important part of their self image as patrons of the arts. They regarded the painting with reverence, and Duchamp's salacious comment and defacement was a major stroke of epater le bourgeois ("freaking out" or substantially offending the bourgeois).[9]
According to Rhonda R. Shearer the apparent reproduction is in fact a copy partly modelled on Duchamp's own face.[10]
Parodies of Duchamp's parodic Mona Lisaedit
Pre-Internet eraedit
Salvador Dalí created his Self Portrait as Mona Lisa[11] in 1954, referencing L.H.O.O.Q. in collaboration with Philippe Halsman. This work incorporated photographs of a wild-eyed Dalí showing his handlebar moustache and a handful of coins.[12][13]
Icelandic painter Erró then incorporated Dalí's version of L.H.O.O.Q. into a 1958 composition that also included a film-still from Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou.
The use of computers permitted new forms of parodies of L.H.O.O.Q., including interactive ones.
One form of computerized parody using the Internet juxtaposes layers over the original, on a webpage. In one example, the original layer is Mona Lisa. The second layer is transparent in the main, but is opaque and obscures the original layer in some places (for example, where Duchamp located the moustache). This technology is described at the George Washington University Law School website.[14] An example of this technology is a copy of Mona Lisa with a series of different superpositions—first Duchamp's moustache, then an eye patch, then a hat, a hamburger, and so on.[15] The point of this technology (which is explained on the foregoing website for a copyright law class) is that it permits making a parody that need not involve making an infringing copy of the original work if it simply uses an inline link to the original, which is presumably on an authorized webpage.[16] According to the website at which the material is located:
The layers paradigm is significant in a computer-related or Internet context because it readily describes a system in which the person ultimately responsible for creating the composite (here, corresponding to [a modern-day] Duchamp) does not make a physical copy of the original work in the sense of storing it in permanent form (fixed as a copy) distributed to the end user. Rather, the person distributes only the material of the subsequent layers, [so that] the aggrieved copyright owner (here, corresponding to Leonardo da Vinci) distributes the material of the underlying [original Mona Lisa] layer, and the end user's system receives both. The end user's system then causes a temporary combination, in its computer RAM and the user's brain. The combination is a composite of the layers. Framing and superimposition of popup windows exemplify this paradigm.[17]
Other computer-implemented distortions of L.H.O.O.Q. or Mona Lisa reproduce the elements of the original, thereby creating an infringing reproduction, if the underlying work is protected by copyright.[18] Leonardo's rights in Mona Lisa would, of course, have long expired had such rights existed in his age. This is a link to examples of the foregoing parodies, together with an explanation of the technology. These animations were originally prepared by Ed Stephan of Western Washington University.
Versionsedit
1919 – Private collection, Paris.
1920 – Present location unknown.
1930 – Large scale replica, private collection, Paris, on loan to the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
1940 – 300 replicas. Printed in Paris, they were then inserted into the various Boîte-En-Valise assembled in the following years from 1941 onwards. Several editions are present at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and at the Gnam in Rome.
1958 – Collection of Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona.
1960 – Oil on wood. In the collection of Dorothea Tanning, New York.
1964 – Thirty-eight replicas made to be inserted into a limited edition of Pierre de Massot's Marcel Duchamp, propos et souvenirs. Collection of Arturo Schwarz, Milan.
1965 – L.H.O.O.Q. Shaved is a playing card reproduction of the Mona Lisa mounted on paper. The Mona Lisa painting is unmodified but for the inscription LHOOQ rasée.
^ abMarcel Duchamp, L.H.O.O.Q. or La Joconde, 1964 (replica of 1919 original) Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
^Rudolf E. Kuenzli, Dada and Surrealist Film, MIT Press, 1996, p. 47, ISBN026261121X
^More recent scholarship suggests that Duchamp laboriously altered the postcard before adding the moustache, including merging his own portrait with that of Mona Lisa. See Marco de Martino, "Mona Lisa: 20 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine Who Is Hidden Behind the Woman With the Moustache?"
^Coquelin, Ernest, Le Rire (2e éd.) / par Coquelin cadet ; ill. de Sapeck, Bibliothèque nationale de France
^Kristina, Seekamp (2004). . . Binghamton University Department of Art History. Archived from the original on 12 September 2006. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
^Anne Collins Goodyear, James W. McManus, National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution), Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2009, contributors Janine A. Mileaf, Francis M. Naumann, Michael R. Taylor, ISBN0262013002
^See, for example, Andreas Huyssen, After the Great Divide: "It is not the artistic achievement of Leonardo that is mocked by moustache, goatee, and obscene allusion, but rather the cult object that the Mona Lisa had become in that temple of bourgeois art religion, the Louvre." (Quoted in Steven Baker, The Fiction of Postmodernity, p.49
^L.H.O.O.Q. 19 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine—Internet-Related Derivative Works.
^Martino, Marco De (2003). . Art Science Research Laboratory. Archived from the original on 20 March 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2008.
Theodore Reff, "Duchamp & Leonardo: L.H.O.O.Q.-Alikes", Art in America, 65, January–February 1977, pp. 82–93
Jean Clair, Duchamp, Léonard, La Tradition maniériste, in Marcel Duchamp: tradition de la rupture ou rupture de la tradition?, Colloque du Centre Culturel International de Cerisy-la-Salle, ed. Jean Clair, Paris: Union Générale d'Editions, 1979, pp. 117–44
External linksedit
L.H.O.O.Q. – Internet-Related Derivative Works 19 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine
October 27, 2023
french, pronunciation, work, marcel, duchamp, first, conceived, 1919, work, what, duchamp, referred, readymades, more, specifically, rectified, ready, made, readymade, involves, taking, mundane, often, utilitarian, objects, generally, considered, transforming,. L H O O Q French pronunciation ɛl aʃ o o ky is a work of art by Marcel Duchamp First conceived in 1919 the work is one of what Duchamp referred to as readymades or more specifically a rectified ready made 2 The readymade involves taking mundane often utilitarian objects not generally considered to be art and transforming them by adding to them changing them or as in the case of his most famous work Fountain simply renaming and reorienting them and placing them in an appropriate setting 3 In L H O O Q the found object objet trouve is a cheap postcard reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci s early 16th century painting Mona Lisa onto which Duchamp drew a moustache and beard in pencil and appended the title 4 Marcel Duchamp 1919 L H O O Q 1 Marcel Duchamp 1919 L H O O Q published in 391 n 12 March 1920 Contents 1 Overview 2 Parodies of Duchamp s parodic Mona Lisa 2 1 Pre Internet era 2 2 Internet and computerized parodies 3 Versions 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksOverview edit nbsp Eugene Bataille La Joconde fumant la pipe Le Rire 1887The subject of the Mona Lisa treated satirically had already been explored in 1887 by Eugene Bataille fr aka Sapeck when he created Mona Lisa smoking a pipe published in Le Rire 5 It is not clear however if Duchamp was familiar with Sapeck s work The name of the piece L H O O Q is a gramogram the letters pronounced in French sound like Elle a chaud au cul She is hot in the arse 6 or She has a hot ass 7 avoir chaud au cul is a vulgar expression implying that a woman has sexual restlessness In a late interview Schwarz 203 Duchamp gives a loose translation of L H O O Q as there is fire down below Francis Picabia in an attempt to publish L H O O Q in his magazine 391 could not wait for the work to be sent from New York City so with the permission of Duchamp drew the moustache on Mona Lisa himself forgetting the goatee Picabia wrote underneath Tableau Dada par Marcel Duchamp Duchamp noticed the missing goatee Two decades later Duchamp corrected the omission on Picabia s replica found by Jean Arp at a bookstore Duchamp drew the goatee in black ink with a fountain pen and wrote Moustache par Picabia barbiche par Marcel Duchamp avril 1942 1 As was the case with a number of his readymades Duchamp made multiple versions of L H O O Q of differing sizes and in different media throughout his career one of which an unmodified black and white reproduction of the Mona Lisa mounted on card is called L H O O Q Shaved The masculinized female introduces the theme of gender reversal which was popular with Duchamp who adopted his own female pseudonym Rrose Selavy pronounced Eros c est la vie Eros that s life 2 Primary responses to L H O O Q interpreted its meaning as being an attack on the iconic Mona Lisa and traditional art 8 a stroke of epater le bourgeois promoting the Dadaist ideals According to one commentator The creation of L H O O Q profoundly transformed the perception ofLa Joconde what the French call the painting in contrast with the Americans and Germans who call it the Mona Lisa In 1919 the cult of Jocondisme was practically a secular religion of the French bourgeoisie and an important part of their self image as patrons of the arts They regarded the painting with reverence and Duchamp s salacious comment and defacement was a major stroke of epater le bourgeois freaking out or substantially offending the bourgeois 9 According to Rhonda R Shearer the apparent reproduction is in fact a copy partly modelled on Duchamp s own face 10 Parodies of Duchamp s parodic Mona Lisa editPre Internet era edit Salvador Dali created his Self Portrait as Mona Lisa 11 in 1954 referencing L H O O Q in collaboration with Philippe Halsman This work incorporated photographs of a wild eyed Dali showing his handlebar moustache and a handful of coins 12 13 Icelandic painter Erro then incorporated Dali s version of L H O O Q into a 1958 composition that also included a film still from Bunuel s Un Chien Andalou Fernand Leger and Rene Magritte have also adapted L H O O Q using their own iconography 12 Internet and computerized parodies edit The use of computers permitted new forms of parodies of L H O O Q including interactive ones One form of computerized parody using the Internet juxtaposes layers over the original on a webpage In one example the original layer is Mona Lisa The second layer is transparent in the main but is opaque and obscures the original layer in some places for example where Duchamp located the moustache This technology is described at the George Washington University Law School website 14 An example of this technology is a copy of Mona Lisa with a series of different superpositions first Duchamp s moustache then an eye patch then a hat a hamburger and so on 15 The point of this technology which is explained on the foregoing website for a copyright law class is that it permits making a parody that need not involve making an infringing copy of the original work if it simply uses an inline link to the original which is presumably on an authorized webpage 16 According to the website at which the material is located The layers paradigm is significant in a computer related or Internet context because it readily describes a system in which the person ultimately responsible for creating the composite here corresponding to a modern day Duchamp does not make a physical copy of the original work in the sense of storing it in permanent form fixed as a copy distributed to the end user Rather the person distributes only the material of the subsequent layers so that the aggrieved copyright owner here corresponding to Leonardo da Vinci distributes the material of the underlying original Mona Lisa layer and the end user s system receives both The end user s system then causes a temporary combination in its computer RAM and the user s brain The combination is a composite of the layers Framing and superimposition of popup windows exemplify this paradigm 17 Other computer implemented distortions of L H O O Q or Mona Lisa reproduce the elements of the original thereby creating an infringing reproduction if the underlying work is protected by copyright 18 Leonardo s rights in Mona Lisa would of course have long expired had such rights existed in his age This is a link to examples of the foregoing parodies together with an explanation of the technology These animations were originally prepared by Ed Stephan of Western Washington University Versions edit1919 Private collection Paris 1920 Present location unknown 1930 Large scale replica private collection Paris on loan to the Musee National d Art Moderne Centre Georges Pompidou Paris 1940 300 replicas Printed in Paris they were then inserted into the various Boite En Valise assembled in the following years from 1941 onwards Several editions are present at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and at the Gnam in Rome 1958 Collection of Antoni Tapies Barcelona 1960 Oil on wood In the collection of Dorothea Tanning New York 1964 Thirty eight replicas made to be inserted into a limited edition of Pierre de Massot s Marcel Duchamp propos et souvenirs Collection of Arturo Schwarz Milan 1965 L H O O Q Shaved is a playing card reproduction of the Mona Lisa mounted on paper The Mona Lisa painting is unmodified but for the inscription LHOOQ rasee See also editMona Lisa replicas and reinterpretations Legacy of Mona Lisa Walker s L H O O Q Gramogram the artwork s title is an example of this type of pun References edit a b Marcel Duchamp 1887 1968 dadart com a b Marcel Duchamp L H O O Q or La Joconde 1964 replica of 1919 original Norton Simon Museum Pasadena Rudolf E Kuenzli Dada and Surrealist Film MIT Press 1996 p 47 ISBN 026261121X More recent scholarship suggests that Duchamp laboriously altered the postcard before adding the moustache including merging his own portrait with that of Mona Lisa See Marco de Martino Mona Lisa Archived 20 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine Who Is Hidden Behind the Woman With the Moustache Coquelin Ernest Le Rire 2e ed par Coquelin cadet ill de Sapeck Bibliotheque nationale de France Kristina Seekamp 2004 L H O O Q or Mona Lisa Unmaking the Museum Marcel Duchamp s Readymades in Context Binghamton University Department of Art History Archived from the original on 12 September 2006 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a External link in code class cs1 code work code help Anne Collins Goodyear James W McManus National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian Institution Inventing Marcel Duchamp The Dynamics of Portraiture National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian Institution 2009 contributors Janine A Mileaf Francis M Naumann Michael R Taylor ISBN 0262013002 See for example Andreas Huyssen After the Great Divide It is not the artistic achievement of Leonardo that is mocked by moustache goatee and obscene allusion but rather the cult object that the Mona Lisa had become in that temple of bourgeois art religion the Louvre Quoted in Steven Baker The Fiction of Postmodernity p 49 L H O O Q Archived 19 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine Internet Related Derivative Works Martino Marco De 2003 Mona Lisa Who is Hidden Behind the Woman with the Mustache Art Science Research Laboratory Archived from the original on 20 March 2008 Retrieved 27 April 2008 Dali Self Portrait as Mona Lisa a b Peter Hedstrom Peter Bearman 2009 The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology US Oxford University Press p 407 ISBN 978 0 19 161523 8 Baron Robert A 1973 Mona Lisa Images for a Modern World exhibition catalogue Museum of Modern Art Archived from the original on 28 October 2009 Retrieved 17 March 2009 L H O O Q Internet Related Derivative Works Archived from the original on 17 June 2020 L H O O Q gif Archived from the original on 2 August 2020 See Perfect 10 Inc v Google Inc L H O O Q Internet Related Derivative Works Archived 19 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine George Washington University L H O O Q 2 Additional Demonstrative Materials Archived from the original on 3 August 2020 Further reading editTheodore Reff Duchamp amp Leonardo L H O O Q Alikes Art in America 65 January February 1977 pp 82 93 Jean Clair Duchamp Leonard La Tradition manieriste in Marcel Duchamp tradition de la rupture ou rupture de la tradition Colloque du Centre Culturel International de Cerisy la Salle ed Jean Clair Paris Union Generale d Editions 1979 pp 117 44External links editL H O O Q Internet Related Derivative Works Archived 19 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title L H O O Q amp oldid 1157495814, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
