Marcel Duchamp: a game of chess

Episode of Series “Phaidon art collection”.
Filmed in 1963 the program offers an in-depth dialogue between renowned artist Marcel Duchamp and film-maker Jean-Marie Drot over a game of chess and a tour of Duchamp’s first one man show at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1963. Duchamp details his life and work only 5 years before his death in a discussion of his time in the United States after fleeing France in 1915. The discussion touches on his view of the country in social and political terms as well as its impact on his own work, intermingled with visual contemplations on the progression of his artwork from painting to photographs throughout his career. Recognised for varying artistic practices which included brushes with Impressionism and Cubism, Duchamp is also largely known for his founding influence in Surrealism and Dada. Here he recounts the stages of his work with full colour shots of the relevant pieces evoking a detailed sense of the significance of these different times in his life personally, politically and most of all artistically. The game of chess which punctuates the dialogue, a passion for Duchamp throughout his career, acts as an insightful metaphor for the mental discipline he applies to his work and an avenue for its explanation and contemplation. Contains some scenes in b&w. In French with English subtitles.