Spellbound by Marcel: Duchamp, Love, and Art

New York and London: Pegasus Books, 2022. xii, 241 pages, [16] pages of plates, illustrations (some colour); 24 cm. Tight, clean copy. Stated First Pegasus Books cloth edition. Dust jacket protected in a mylar cover. A fine copy of the first printing. "In 1915, a group of French artists fled war-torn Europe for New York. In the few months between their arrival--and America's entry into the war in April 1917--they pushed back the boundaries of the possible, in both life and art. The vortex of this transformation was the apartment at 33 West 67th Street, owned by Walter and Louise Arensberg, where artists and poets met nightly to talk, eat, drink, discuss each others' work, play chess, plan balls, organise magazines and exhibitions, and fall in and out of love. At the center of all this activity stood the mysterious figure of Marcel Duchamp, always approachable, always unreadable. His exhibit of a urinal, which he called Fountain, briefly shocked the New York art world before falling, like its perpetrator, into obscurity. Many people (of both sexes) were in love with Duchamp. Henri-Pierre Roche´ and Beatrice Wood were among them; they were also, briefly, and (for her) life-changingly, in love with each other. Both kept daily diaries, which give an intimate picture of the events of those years. Or rather two pictures--for the views they offer, including of their own love affair, are stunningly divergent. Spellbound by Marcel follows Duchamp, Roche´, and Beatrice as they traverse the twentieth century. Roche became the author of Jules and Jim, made into a classic film by Franc¸ois Truffaut. Beatrice became a celebrated ceramicist. Duchamp fell into chess-playing obscurity until, decades later, he became famous for a second time--as Fountain was elected the twentieth century's most influential artwork" - Publisher. CONTENTS: Introduction; PART ONE: PREWAR. The Armory Show, 1913; Marcel, 1912; PART TWO: WARTIME. Marcel, 1915; Marcel, New York, 1915; Beatrice, 1916; Artistic life, New York, 1916; Pierre, 1917; The Blind Man; Mr. Mutt's foundation; Beatrice's sentimental education; The buddha of the bathroom; Pierre's American loves, 1917; Leaving New York 1: Beatrice; Leaving New York 2: Pierre; Leaving New York 3: Marcel; PART THREE: BETWEEN CONTINENTS. Marcel, Paris, 1919; True love: Man Ray, Picabia, Pierre, and Marcel; Mary; Marcel married: Paris, 1927; Marcel discovers love; PART FOUR: LATE FAME. Beatrice; Pierre; Marcel; Surviving Marcel.. 1st. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo. Collectible.