title: The Seekers

text: Durham and Guy had met when they both worked in an advertising agency – initially Durham only sang periodically with the Seekers, when not performing at local jazz clubs. She was replaced in Traynor's jazz ensemble by Margret RoadKnight. The Seekers performed folk-influenced pop music and soon gathered a strong following in Melbourne. Durham's connections with W&G Records led to the group's later signing a recording contract with the label. Their debut album, "Introducing the Seekers", was released in 1963. Their debut single was the traditional historic Australian bush ballad from 1894, "Waltzing Matilda", which appeared in November and reached the Melbourne "Top 40" singles chart. and peaked at number 74 on the national chart. When being photographed for the album's cover, Potger was replaced by Ray – his day job with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) as a radio producer barred him from involvement in a commercial enterprise.


title: The Seekers

text: The Seekers were offered a twelve-month position as on-board entertainment on the Sitmar Line passenger cruise ship "Fairsky" in March 1964. In May, they travelled to the UK and had intended to return to Australia after staying ten weeks, but upon arrival they were offered work by a London booking agency, the Grade Organisation. They signed there with World Record Club and issued a single, "Myra", co-written by the group. The group regularly appeared on a British TV show series, ""Call in on Carroll"", hosted by Ronnie Carroll.


title: The Seekers

text: After filling in on a bill headlined by singer Dusty Springfield, they met her brother, songwriter and producer Tom Springfield, who had experience with writing folk-pop material and lyrics/tunes with the siblings' earlier group The Springfields. He penned "I'll Never Find Another You", which they recorded in November 1964. It was released by EMI Records, on their Columbia Graphophone Company (Columbia)


title: The Seekers

text: label, in December and was championed by the offshore radio station "Radio Caroline" which frequently played and promoted their music. Despite the fact that the group had not signed a contract with EMI, the single reached the UK "Top 50" and began selling well. In February 1965, it reached No.1 in the UK and Australia, and No.4 in the United States where it was released on EMI's Capitol Records label. "I'll Never Find Another You" was the seventh biggest-selling single in Britain for 1965 though their own "The Carnival Is Over", released later in the year, would eventually eclipse it – and went on to sell 1.75 million copies worldwide.


title: The Seekers

text: The Seekers were the first Australian pop group to have a Top 5 hit in Australia, the UK and the US. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described their style as "concentrated on a bright, uptempo sound, although they were too pop oriented to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock". The distinctive soprano voice of Durham, the group's vocal harmonies and memorable songs encouraged the British media, including the national broadcasting agency on radio and television, the BBC, to give them exposure, allowing them to appeal to a broad cross-section of the young British folk, pop and rock music audience.


title: The Seekers

text: The Seekers achieved their first success in the United States in 1965 with their hit "I'll Never Find Another You" reaching peaks of No. 4 for pop and No. 2 for easy listening on "Billboard" magazine charts. They followed "I'll Never Find Another You" with "What Have They Done to the Rain?" in February 1965 which did not chart in the Top 40.


title: The Seekers

text: The group were named "Best New Group of 1964" at the April 1965 "New Musical Express" Poll Winners Awards. They appeared at the annual celebratory Wembley Empire Pool concert, on a bill which included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield and the Animals. In May, another Tom Springfield composition was issued, "A World of Our Own", which reached Top 3 in Australia and the UK and Top 20 in the US. Malvina Reynolds' lullaby "Morningtown Ride" was issued in Australia in July and peaked in the Top 10. That same month, Durham had to temporarily leave the group due to emergency nasal surgery; she was replaced on live dates from July to early September by Scottish-born singer Ellen Wade.


title: The Seekers

text: Durham quickly returned to the group and their next single, "The Carnival Is Over", appeared in November 1965. The melody is based on a Russian folk song, while the lyrics were written by Tom Springfield; it reached No. 1 on both the Australian and the UK charts and, at its peak, the single was selling around 93,000 copies a day in the UK alone. However, although "The Carnival Is Over" became a signature song for the group, it was not a great success in North America, peaking at No. 105 in the US and missing the Canadian charts completely.


title: The Seekers

text: On 16 November 1965, they appeared at a Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium before Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.


title: The Seekers

text: Also in 1965, the group met Paul Simon, of the American duo Simon & Garfunkel, who was pursuing a solo career in the UK following the initial poor chart success of the duo's debut LP, "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.". In 1966, the Seekers released the Simon-penned "Someday One Day", which reached No. 4 in Australia and No. 11 in the UK. Their version was Simon's first UK success as a songwriter and his first major hit as a composer outside of his work with Art Garfunkel. Woodley co-wrote some songs with Simon, including "Cloudy", "I Wish You Could Be Here" and "Red Rubber Ball" which became an American No. 2 single for the Cyrkle. The Seekers' version was provided on their 1966 album "Come the Day" (released on the album "Georgy Girl" in the US).


title: The Seekers

text: Early in 1966, after returning to Australia, the Seekers filmed their first TV special, "At Home with the Seekers". In November, a re-recorded version of "Morningtown Ride" was released in the UK which reached No. 2. The song had been recorded earlier as an Australian single on the 1964 album "Hide and Seekers" and appeared on the 1965 American debut, "The New Seekers".


title: The Seekers

text: In December 1966 they issued "Georgy Girl", which became their highest charting American hit when it reached No. 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and No. 1 on the "Cashbox" Top 100 in February 1967. It was the title song and theme for the British film of the same name starring Lynn Redgrave and James Mason and sold 3.5 million copies worldwide. They were awarded a gold record certificate by the Recording Industry Association of America. Meanwhile, it was No. 3 in the UK and No. 1 in Australia. Its writers, Jim Dale and Tom Springfield, were nominated for the 1967 Academy Award for Best Original Song of 1966, but the Oscar was won by the title song of the film "Born Free".


title: The Seekers

text: In March 1967, the Seekers returned to Australia for a homecoming tour, which included a performance for Music for the People at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, attended by an estimated audience of 200,000. The "Guinness Book of World Records" (1968) listed it as the greatest attendance at a concert in the Southern Hemisphere. Melburnians were celebrating the annual Moomba festival, a free community festival, and many thousands were enjoying other attractions but are included in the crowd estimate. The Seekers were accompanied during their 20-minute set by the Australian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hector Crawford. Film of their appearance was incorporated into their 1967 Australian television special, "The Seekers Down Under", which was screened on Channel 7 and drew a then record audience of over 6 million. It was also screened in the UK on BBC1 on 24 June 1968, and repeated on 27 December 1968.


title: The Seekers

text: In January 1968, on Australia Day, in recognition of its achievements, the group was named joint Australians of the Year – the only group of people to have this honour bestowed upon them. They personally accepted their awards from John Gorton, the Prime Minister of Australia, during their tour. During this visit, the group filmed another TV special, "The World of the Seekers", which was screened in cinemas before being screened nationally on Channel 9 to high ratings and is in the Top 10 most watched TV shows of the 20th century in Australia.


title: The Seekers

text: On 14 February 1968, during the New Zealand tour, Durham approached the other group members to announce that she was leaving the Seekers to pursue a solo career and the group subsequently disbanded. Their final performance, on 9 July, was screened by the BBC as a special called "Farewell the Seekers", with an audience of more than 10 million viewers. The special had been preceded by a week-long season at London's Talk of the Town nightclub and a live recording of one of their shows was released as a live album, "Live at the Talk of the Town". It reached No. 2 on the UK charts. Also in July, the compilation album "The Seekers' Greatest Hits" was released and spent 17 weeks at No. 1 in Australia. It was released as "The Best of The Seekers" in the UK and spent six weeks at No. 1 in 1969, managing to knock "The Beatles (White Album)" off the top of the charts and preventing the Rolling Stones' "Beggars Banquet" from reaching the top spot. The album spent 125 weeks in the charts in the UK.


title: The Seekers

text: Following the Seekers' split, Durham pursued a solo career. She released a Christmas album called "For Christmas with Love" (recorded in Hollywood, California) and later signed with A&M Records, releasing more albums including "Gift of Song" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain". Guy hosted his own TV show in Australia, "A Guy Called Athol", before entering (Liberal Party) politics in 1973. In 1969, Keith Potger formed and managed a new group, the New Seekers, in the UK who also charted highly with their successful song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)". Woodley released several solo albums and focused on songwriting, including co-writing the patriotic song "I Am Australian" with Dobe Newton (of the Bushwackers) in 1987.


title: The Seekers

text: From 1972, Guy, Potger and Woodley planned on reforming the Seekers without Durham. By 1975 they had recruited Louisa Wisseling, a semi-professional folk singer formerly with Melbourne group the Settlers. They had a top 10 Australian hit with the Woodley-penned "The Sparrow Song". Woodley left the group in June 1977 and was replaced by Buddy England, a former 1960s pop singer and member of the Mixtures. In 1978, Guy was replaced by Peter Robinson (ex-the Strangers) and Cheryl Webb replaced Wisseling as lead vocalist, leaving only Keith Potger from the original Seekers line-up. In 1980 the group released an album, "A little bit of Country", and toured periodically until the mid '80s. In 1988, Guy, Potger and Woodley reformed the Seekers with Julie Anthony, a cabaret singer. In May, the group sang "The Carnival Is Over" at the World Expo 88 in Brisbane. In March 1989, the group released the album "Live On", which peaked in the top 30 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Albums Chart. In June 1990, Anthony left and was replaced by Karen Knowles, a former teen pop singer on "Young Talent Time". However the distinctive timbre of Durham's voice was missing from their sound and the group split again.


title: The Seekers

text: The Seekers reunited late in 1992, with the classic line-up of Durham, Guy, Potger and Woodley. In March 1992, all four had met together for the first time in 20 years at a restaurant in Toorak, an inner suburb of Melbourne. Before then they had never talked about reforming; they just wanted to get to know each other again. It was two months later that they decided to do a reunion concert, which led to a 102-date tour. The 25-Year Silver Jubilee Reunion Celebration tour in 1993 was sufficiently successful that the group has continued to perform and record together, on and off, ever since. They staged several sell-out tours of Australia, New Zealand and the UK. They group issued several new albums, including the studio albums "Future Road" in October 1997 (which peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart) and "Morningtown Ride to Christmas" (which reached the top 20 in 2001) Both albums were certified platinum.


title: The Seekers

text: In 1995, the group were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. In the build up to the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, an ABC TV satire, "The Games", parodied the Seekers in the final episode, "The End". Durham had suffered a broken hip and sang "The Carnival Is Over" in a wheelchair at the closing ceremony of the related Paralympic Games on 29 October. "Long Way to the Top" was a 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation six-part documentary on the history of Australian rock and roll from 1956 to the modern era. The Seekers featured on the second episode, "Ten Pound Rocker 1963–1968", broadcast on 22 August, in which Durham and Woodley discussed their early work on a cruise ship, meeting Tom Springfield and their success in Britain. Four of their songs were played during the episode: "I'll Never Find Another You", "The Carnival Is Over", "A World of Our Own" and "Georgy Girl".


title: The Seekers

text: In October 2002, on the 40th anniversary of their formation, they were the subjects of a special issue of Australian postage stamps. On 1 September 2006, they were presented with the Key to the City by Melbourne's Lord Mayor, John So. In February 2009, the SBS TV program "RocKwiz" hosted a 50th anniversary concert at the Myer Music Bowl, "RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl", which included "World of Our Own" performed by Rebecca Barnard and Billy Miller and "The Carnival Is Over" by Durham.


title: The Seekers

text: In 2004 a DVD, "The Seekers at Home and Down Under", was released. It consists of a 1966 television documentary on the Seekers and a 1967 special. The cover includes a photo from the 1966 documentary.


title: The Seekers

text: In October 2010, "The Best of the Seekers" (1968) was listed in the book "100 Best Australian Albums". Also in October, they were scheduled to tour various Australian cities in support of violinist André Rieu and his orchestra. However, the tour was postponed when Rieu was taken ill. They released another "Greatest Hits" compilation in May 2011 which peaked in the top 40. That month they supported Rieu on the rescheduled Australian tour. "I'll Never Find Another You" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive of the Sounds of Australia registry in 2011. "The Seekers' Golden Jubilee Tour" kicked off 2013 in May, celebrating fifty years since the group had formed in December 1962. Performing in Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle and Melbourne, they received rave reviews to sold-out audiences. However, Judith Durham suffered a brain haemorrhage after their first concert in Melbourne. The rest of the Australian tour and later-to-be-staged UK tour were postponed; the former continued in November, while the UK tour took place in May and June 2014, ending with two performances at the Royal Albert Hall, London.


title: The Seekers

text: In November 2015, during a tour of Guy's new group, Athol Guy and Friends, featuring Jenny Blake on vocals, the group were joined by Potger and Woodley for a one-performance fundraiser hosted by the school. The performance featured many of the Seekers' hits as well as other songs that had influenced them over the years. The performance closed with a performance of "I Am Australian", which Guy introduced as a song that was pertinent given "what was happening around the world" at the time.


title: The Seekers

text: In April 2019, the Seekers released "Farewell" – a live recording from their 50th anniversary tour of 2013. Following Durham's retirement from live performance, the group continued as "The Original Seekers" with the addition of long-time producer and guitarist and singer Michael Cristiano as the group's "fourth voice". In June 2019, they released a new studio album titled "Back to Our Roots". The album features Guy, Potger and Woodley joining with Cristiano on songs they had sung prior to Durham's tenure with the group. The album was released with "The Original Seekers" as the group's name.


title: The Seekers

text: On 28 April 2020, Universal Music Australia announced that a trilogy of Seekers' compilation albums would be released over the following twelve months under the title "Hidden Treasures", featuring rarities and lost classics. "Hidden Treasures – Volume 1" was released on 22 May 2020 and peaked at number 21 on the ARIA Charts. "Volume 2" was released October the same year.


title: The Seekers

text: In a 2021 interview, Keith Potger said the group members were considering ways to commemorate their 60th anniversary, in 2022.


title: The Seekers

text: On 5 August 2022, Judith Durham died from bronchiectasis, a chronic lung disease, at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, aged 79.


title: The Seekers

text: The Seekers' final recording together, "Carry Me", was unveiled by Athol Guy at Durham's Memorial service. Written by Bruce Woodley, Guy, Potger and Woodley added their vocals and instrumentation to Durham's vocals.


title: The Seekers

text: The following recordings by the Seekers were each certified as having sold over one million copies: "I'll Never Find Another You", "A World of Our Own", "The Carnival Is Over" and "Georgy Girl"; all were written or co-written by Tom Springfield and were each awarded a gold disc. The Seekers have sold over 50 million records worldwide.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: Apéritifs (; ) and digestifs () are drinks, typically alcoholic, that are normally served before ("apéritif") or after ("digestif") a meal.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: An apéritif is an alcoholic beverage usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite, and is usually dry rather than sweet. Common choices for an apéritif are vermouth; champagne; pastis; gin; ouzo; fino, amontillado or other styles of dry sherry (but not usually cream or oloroso blended sherry, which is very sweet and rich).


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: An "apéritif" may be served with an hors d'oeuvre or amuse-bouche, such as crackers, cheese, pâté, quiche or olives.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: "Apéritif" is a French word "derived from the Latin verb "aperire", which means to open". The French colloquial word for "apéritif" is "apéro".


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: The fifth-century Christian ascetic Diadochos of Photiki says, "People who wish to discipline the sexual organs should avoid drinking those artificial concoctions which are called 'aperitifs'—presumably because they open a way to the stomach for the vast meal which is to follow." This would indicate that apéritifs have existed since at least the fifth century.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: Apéritifs became widespread in 19th century Italy, where they were being served in fashionable cafés in Turin (where modern vermouth was created), Rome, Genoa, Florence, Milan and Venice.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: An apéritif known as Dubonnet was introduced in France in 1846, created by chemist Joseph Dubonnet as a means of delivering malaria-fighting quinine. The medicine was a bitter brew, so he developed a formula of herbs and spices to mask quinine's sharp flavor, and it worked so well that the recipe has remained well-guarded ever since. French Foreign Legion soldiers made use of it in mosquito-infested Northern Africa. Dubonnet's wife was so fond of the drink that she had all her friends try it, and its popularity spread.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: Apéritifs became very popular in Europe, an appeal that crossed the Atlantic; by 1900 they were also commonly served in the United States.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: In Spain and in some countries of Latin America apéritifs have been a staple of tapas for centuries.. The custom of having appetizers with an apéritif crossed the Atlantic in the opposite direction in the 1970s, where the habit of a substantial food offering being paired with the purchase of a drink during "Happy Hour" in the United States pushed the development of a more food-heavy aperitivo course in Italy as well.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: There is no single alcoholic drink that is always served as an apéritif. Fortified wine, liqueur, and dry champagne are probably the most common choices. Because it is served before dining, the emphasis is usually on dry rather than sweet, as a general guideline.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: A digestif is an alcoholic beverage served after a meal, believed to aid digestion even though there is not strong evidence to support this. When served after a coffee course, it may be called "pousse-café". Digestifs are usually taken neat.


title: Apéritif and digestif

text: In many countries, people drink alcoholic beverages at lunch and dinner. Studies have found that when food is eaten before drinking alcohol, alcohol absorption is reduced and the rate at which alcohol is eliminated from the blood is increased. The mechanism for the faster alcohol elimination appears to be unrelated to the type of food. The mechanism is likely food-induced, which increases alcohol-metabolizing enzymes and liver blood flow.


title: Toluene

text: Toluene (), also known as toluol (), is a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a colorless, water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a methyl group (CH) attached to a phenyl group. As such, its systematic IUPAC name is methylbenzene. Toluene is predominantly used as an industrial feedstock and a solvent.


title: Toluene

text: As the solvent in some types of paint thinner, permanent markers, contact cement and certain types of glue, toluene is sometimes used as a recreational inhalant and has the potential of causing severe neurological harm.


title: Toluene

text: The compound was first isolated in 1837 through a distillation of pine oil by the Polish chemist Filip Walter, who named it "rétinnaphte". In 1841, French chemist Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville isolated a hydrocarbon from balsam of Tolu (an aromatic extract from the tropical Colombian tree "Myroxylon balsamum"), which Deville recognized as similar to Walter's "rétinnaphte" and to benzene; hence he called the new hydrocarbon "benzoène". In 1843, Jöns Jacob Berzelius recommended the name "toluin". In 1850, French chemist Auguste Cahours isolated from a distillate of wood a hydrocarbon which he recognized as similar to Deville's "benzoène" and which Cahours named "toluène".


title: Toluene

text: Toluene reacts as a normal aromatic hydrocarbon in electrophilic aromatic substitution. Because the methyl group has greater electron-releasing properties than a hydrogen atom in the same position, toluene is more reactive than benzene toward electrophiles. It undergoes sulfonation to give "p"-toluenesulfonic acid, and chlorination by Cl in the presence of FeCl to give ortho and para isomers of chlorotoluene.


title: Toluene

text: Importantly, the methyl side chain in toluene is susceptible to oxidation. Toluene reacts with potassium permanganate to yield benzoic acid, and with chromyl chloride to yield benzaldehyde (Étard reaction).


title: Toluene

text: The C-H bonds of the methyl group in toluene are benzylic, which means that they are weaker than C-H bonds in simpler alkanes. Reflecting this weakness, the methyl group in toluene undergoes halogenation under free radical conditions. For example, when heated with "N"-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in the presence of AIBN, toluene converts to benzyl bromide. The same conversion can be effected with elemental bromine in the presence of UV light or even sunlight.


title: Toluene

text: The methyl group in toluene undergoes deprotonation only with very strong bases; its p"K" is estimated to be approximately 41. Complete hydrogenation of toluene gives methylcyclohexane. The reaction requires a high pressure of hydrogen and a catalyst.


title: Toluene

text: Toluene is miscible (soluble in all proportions) with ethanol, benzene, diethyl ether, acetone, chloroform, glacial acetic acid and carbon disulfide, but immiscible with water.


title: Toluene

text: Toluene occurs naturally at low levels in crude oil and is a byproduct in the production of gasoline by a catalytic reformer or ethylene cracker. It is also a byproduct of the production of coke from coal. Final separation and purification is done by any of the distillation or solvent extraction processes used for BTX aromatics (benzene, toluene, and xylene isomers).


title: Toluene

text: Toluene can be prepared by a variety of methods. For example, benzene reacts with methanol in presence of a solid acid to give toluene:


title: Toluene

text: Nitration of toluene gives mono-, di-, and trinitrotoluene, all of which are widely used. Dinitrotoluene is the precursor to toluene diisocyanate, which used in the manufacture of polyurethane foam. Trinitrotoluene is the explosive typically abbreviated TNT.


title: Toluene

text: Benzoic acid and benzaldehyde are produced commercially by partial oxidation of toluene with oxygen. Typical catalysts include cobalt or manganese naphthenates.


title: Toluene

text: Toluene is a common solvent, e.g. for paints, paint thinners, silicone sealants, many chemical reactants, rubber, printing ink, adhesives (glues), lacquers, leather tanners, and disinfectants.


title: Toluene

text: Toluene can be used as an octane booster in gasoline fuels for internal combustion engines as well as jet fuel. Toluene at 86% by volume fuelled all the turbocharged engines in Formula One during the 1980s, first pioneered by the Honda team. The remaining 14% was a "filler" of "n"-heptane, to reduce the octane rating to meet Formula One fuel restrictions. Toluene at 100% can be used as a fuel for both two-stroke and four-stroke engines; however, due to the density of the fuel and other factors, the fuel does not vaporize easily unless preheated to . Honda solved this problem in their Formula One cars by routing the fuel lines through a heat exchanger, drawing energy from the water in the cooling system to heat the fuel.


title: Toluene

text: In Australia in 2003, toluene was found to have been illegally combined with petrol in fuel outlets for sale as standard vehicular fuel. Toluene incurs no fuel excise tax, while other fuels are taxed at more than 40%, providing a greater profit margin for fuel suppliers. The extent of toluene substitution has not been determined.


title: Toluene

text: In the laboratory, toluene is used as a solvent for carbon nanomaterials, including nanotubes and fullerenes, and it can also be used as a fullerene indicator. The color of the toluene solution of C is bright purple. Toluene is used as a cement for fine polystyrene kits (by dissolving and then fusing surfaces) as it can be applied very precisely by brush and contains none of the bulk of an adhesive. Toluene can be used to break open red blood cells in order to extract hemoglobin in biochemistry experiments. Toluene has also been used as a coolant for its good heat transfer capabilities in sodium cold traps used in nuclear reactor system loops. Toluene had also been used in the process of removing the cocaine from coca leaves in the production of Coca-Cola syrup.


title: Toluene

text: The environmental and toxicological effects of toluene have been extensively studied. Inhalation of toluene in low to moderate levels can cause tiredness, confusion, weakness, drunken-type actions, memory loss, nausea, loss of appetite, hearing loss, and colour vision loss. Some of these symptoms usually disappear when exposure is stopped. Inhaling high levels of toluene in a short time may cause light-headedness, nausea, or sleepiness, unconsciousness, and even death. Toluene is, however, much less toxic than benzene, and as a consequence, largely replaced it as an aromatic solvent in chemical preparation. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that the carcinogenic potential of toluene cannot be evaluated due to insufficient information. In 2013, worldwide sales of toluene amounted to about 24.5 billion US-dollars.


title: Toluene

text: Similar to many other solvents such as 1,1,1-trichloroethane and some alkylbenzenes, toluene has been shown to act as a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist and GABA receptor positive allosteric modulator. Additionally, toluene has been shown to display antidepressant-like effects in rodents in the forced swim test (FST) and the tail suspension test (TST), likely due to its NMDA antagonist properties.


title: Toluene

text: Toluene is sometimes used as a recreational inhalant ("glue sniffing"), likely on account of its euphoric and dissociative effects.


title: Toluene

text: Toluene inhibits excitatory ion channels such as the NMDA receptor, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, and the serotonin 5-HT receptor. It also potentiates the function of inhibitory ion channels, such as the GABA and glycine receptors. In addition, toluene disrupts voltage-gated calcium channels and ATP-gated ion channels.


title: Toluene

text: Toluene is used as an intoxicative inhalant in a manner unintended by manufacturers. People inhale toluene-containing products (e.g., paint thinner, contact cement, model glue, etc.) for its intoxicating effect. The possession and use of toluene and products containing it are regulated in many jurisdictions, for the supposed reason of preventing minors from obtaining these products for recreational drug purposes. As of 2007, 24 U.S. states had laws penalizing use, possession with intent to use, and/or distribution of such inhalants. In 2005 the European Union banned the general sale of products consisting of greater than 0.5% toluene.


title: Toluene

text: Several types of fungi including "Cladophialophora", "Exophiala", "Leptodontidium" (syn. "Leptodontium"), "Pseudeurotium zonatum", and "Cladosporium sphaerospermum", and certain species of bacteria can degrade toluene using it as a source of carbon and energy.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: The Strangers is a 2008 American slasher film written and directed by Bryan Bertino in his directorial debut and is the first installment of "The Strangers" film series. The plot follows Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) whose stay at a vacation home is disrupted by three masked criminals who infiltrate the home. The screenplay was inspired by two real-life events: the multiple-homicide Manson family Tate murders and a series of break-ins that occurred in Bertino's neighborhood as a child. Some journalists noted similarities between the film and the Keddie cabin murders that occurred in Keddie, California in 1981, though Bertino did not cite this as a reference.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Made on a budget of $9 million, the film was shot on location in rural South Carolina in the fall of 2006. Originally slated for a theatrical release in November 2007, it was postponed before a theatrical release on May 30, 2008. The film became a sleeper hit, grossing $82 million at the box office worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising its atmosphere and tension, and others criticizing its script and characters.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In the years since its release, it has become a cult film. It successfully launched a film series, including a sequel titled "" which was released on March 9, 2018. An upcoming third film is also currently in production and will be subsequently followed by two more films.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In a secluded area, away from civilization, James Hoyt and Kristen McKay arrive at night to James' childhood summer home, returning from a friend's wedding. Tension abounds between the couple, as Kristen rejected James' marriage proposal to her after the reception. James calls his friend Mike and asks him to pick him up in the morning. Shortly after 4:00 a.m., there is a loud knock at the door. A young blonde woman, whose face is obstructed by poor lighting, asks the couple "Is Tamara here?" but is turned away by James. James goes for a drive to purchase a pack of cigarettes for Kristen; before he departs, he starts a fire in the hearth. While waiting for him to return, Kristen hears another knock on the door, but doesn't open it. Upon asking who it is, she learns it is the same girl from earlier, asking for Tamara; Kristen reminds her that she already came by and locks the door as the mysterious girl walks away. Kristen realizes the chimney flue is closed, and attempts to open it; smoke emanating from the fire triggers a smoke alarm. Kristen attempts to disarm the alarm when she is startled by another knock at the door and drops the alarm on the floor, unnerved. She calls James' cellphone from the landline, but their call is cut short. Kristen returns to the kitchen, where, unbeknownst to her, an intruder watches her, lingering in the adjacent hallway.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Kristen notices the smoke alarm she left on the floor is now sitting on a chair, and realizes someone has been in the house. Upon going to retrieve her cell phone from the charger, she finds it is missing and begins to panic. When she hears a noise from the backyard, she arms herself with a knife, and opens the curtains to find the masked man staring at her. Screaming, she stumbles into the hallway and watches as the front door is forced ajar. When she goes to push the door closed, the blonde woman, now in a doll-like mask, peers inside. After locking the door, Kristen retreats to the bedroom, where she hears a loud crash, before James returns. After she explains what has happened, he goes outside to the car to obtain his phone, whereupon he finds the car ransacked and vandalized, and sees the masked blonde woman watching him from afar. The couple attempt to leave in James' car but another masked brunette woman rear-ends them in a pickup truck, forcing them to flee.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Back inside the house, Kristen and James find a shotgun and wait for the thugs in a bedroom. Mike arrives and realizes something is wrong after seeing James' vandalized car. He enters the house, and James, mistaking him for one of the intruders, shoots him dead. Devastated, James remembers an old radio transmitter in a barn on the property. He leaves and encounters the brunette woman, searching the backyard with a flashlight. When James tries to shoot her, the masked man ambushes him and knocks him unconscious, inadvertently discharging the rifle. Kristen hears the shot and runs to the barn. She finds the radio, but the brunette woman smashes it with an axe. Kristen rushes back to the house where she encounters the blonde woman, who taunts her with a knife. She tries to escape but is incapacitated by the masked man. At dawn, the couple awaken to find themselves tied to chairs in the living room with the intruders standing before them. Kristen attempts to reason with the strangers, before demanding an explanation, to which the blonde woman replies, "Because you were home."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: The offenders unmask themselves to Kristen and James before taking turns stabbing them in the chest and abdomen. Afterwards, the thugs drive away in their truck and come across two young boys on bicycles distributing religious tracts. The blonde woman steps out of the truck and asks if she can have one of their tract cards. One of the boys asks her, "Are you a sinner?" to which she responds, "Sometimes." The boy gives her one, and the strangers drive away as the brunette woman states, "It'll be easier next time." The two boys come upon the house, where they discover the bloodied bodies of Kristen, James, and Mike inside. One of the boys approaches Kristen's body and attempts to touch it. As he reaches out to her, Kristen, still alive, startles him by grabbing his hand and screaming.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Film scholar Kevin Wetmore noted the film's portrayal of violence as a reflection of its contemporary culture, writing: "Death is a random act in post-9/11 horror—the result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as the cliché goes. Unlike in eighties slasher horror, for example, where engaging in negative behavior such as drinking, doing drugs, having premarital sex are often forerunners to being killed by the killer(s); [here], death is random and unrelated to one's behavior."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In "The Horror Show Guide: The Ultimate Frightfest of Movies", Mike Mayo noted the film's "grim realism," writing that the main characters "could have wandered out of a gloomy Ingmar Bergman film," ultimately branding the film as an example of "naturalistic domestic horror" akin to Michael Haneke's "Funny Games".


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: The film has also been noted by scholar Philip Simpson as highlighting "the divide between the underprivileged and privileged classes," as well as for its inversion of commonly-held beliefs about violence in urban areas and pastoral ethics: ""The Strangers", as many horror films do ... undermines the conventional notion of rural society as a simpler, crime-free place. One might call the narrative sensibility informing "The Strangers" 'pastoral paranoia', in that danger lurks among the rough folk of the country rather than the suburbs and cities. Of course, it may be that provincial violence is a result of contamination, or in other words that the kind of stranger-upon-stranger violence typically associated with urban life metastasizes to the rural, a phenomenon noted by Louis Wirth."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In his book "Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film" (2014), scholar Tony Williams notes the film's setting within a 1970s-era home as representative of an "American tradition of violence that is random and without any coherent explanation." Additionally, Williams reads the three masked assailants as metaphors for the "repressed and unresolved tensions affecting the couple inside the house."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Writer-director Bryan Bertino wrote the screenplay which was originally titled "The Faces"; it was the third screenplay he had ever written. Bertino had a particular interest in the horror genre, noting how one can connect to an audience by scaring them, and would state in subsequent interviews that he grew up watching horror films. In particular, he stated he was significantly inspired by thriller films of the 1970s while writing the screenplay, and envisioned a film that "put the audience in the world of the victims."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: According to production notes and subsequent interviews, the film was inspired by true events from Bertino's childhood: Bertino explains:


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In interviews, Bertino stated he was "very impressed" with some of the theories circulating on the Internet about the "true events" the movie is allegedly based on, but said that his main inspiration was the true crime book "Helter Skelter", which is about the Manson Family murders; some journalists speculated that the film was also inspired by the unsolved Keddie Cabin Murders of 1981 that occurred in a small vacation community in California's Sierra Nevada. The film's premise has been compared by some film critics to the French horror film "Them", released two years earlier, which also features a couple terrorized by strangers in their remote home.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Bertino entered the screenplay for "The Strangers" into a screenwriting contest, after which he sold its directorial rights to Universal Pictures.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: When casting the two leading actors in the film, Bertino sought Liv Tyler for the role of Kristen. Tyler, who had not worked for several years after the birth of her son, accepted the part after being impressed by the script, which she read while on a flight from Japan to Los Angeles: "I especially liked Bryan's way of saying a lot, but not saying everything. Often in movies, it's all spelled out for you, and the dialogue is very explanatory. But Bryan doesn't write like that; he writes how normal people communicate—with questions lingering. I knew it would be interesting to act that." Thandie Newton and Charlize Theron also expressed interest in the role. Canadian actor Scott Speedman was cast as James. Speedman was also impressed by the script, stating that "the audience actually gets time to breathe with the characters before things get scary as hell. That got me interested from the first pages".


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In casting the three masked intruders, Bertino chose Australian fashion model Gemma Ward for the part of Dollface, feeling she had the exact "look" he had imagined; Ward was officially cast in the film in September 2006. In preparing for the role, Ward read Vincent Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter" for inspiration. Kip Weeks was then chosen as the Man in the Mask, and television actress Laura Margolis, who found the script to be a real "page turner", was cast in the part of Pin-Up Girl. In retrospect, Bertino said he chose the three actors based on their abilities to convey their characters in spite of the fact that their faces remain unseen onscreen.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Bertino had not initially planned on directing "The Strangers", and had been disconnected from the project after selling directorial rights to Universal Pictures. Both Justin Lin and Mark Romanek were attached to direct, but eventually backed out. Approximately two years after Bertino had sold the screenplay, Universal passed the project on to its subsidiary, Rogue Pictures, who approached Bertino to direct the project, despite his lack of experience.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: On a $9 million budget, filming for "The Strangers" began on October 10, 2006, and finished in early 2007. It was shot on location roughly 10 miles outside of Florence, South Carolina, and the house interior was constructed by a set crew. Though the film takes place in 2005, the house itself was deliberately constructed with an architecture reminiscent of 1970s ranch houses and dressed in furnishings applicable to the era. Bertino based the house on the types of homes common where he had grown up in rural Texas. The property was located on the outskirts of Timmonsville, South Carolina. Despite weather complications, the film was largely shot in chronological order.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: During production, it was reported that Liv Tyler came down with tonsillitis due to the extensive screaming the role required her to do. Tyler would later recall it being the most difficult film she had ever worked on, "both physically and emotionally." According to Laura Margolis, who played the Pin-Up Girl, Tyler also specifically requested that she not see her mask prior to filming: "I got strict instructions not to let Liv see me in my mask before we shot," Margolis recalled. "The first scene that I shot was stalking [her] outside of the barn. I had been told that she really wanted to be scared. She didn't want to have to fake it, and so it was my responsibility to really scare her. So we shot that scene, I ran at her, she started actually screaming, and then she kicked me away."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: The masks featured in the film were chosen by Bertino, who wanted them to appear as though the killers "could have picked them up at any store."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Film editor Kevin Greutert was hired to edit the film; at the time, he had recently finished editing "Saw III". Several changes were made to the film during post-production, primarily regarding the conclusion: In the screenplay and the original footage shot, the three masked strangers reveal their faces on camera. After the sequence in which Kristen and James are stabbed, the strangers wander around the house, cleaning up parts of the crime scene before dressing into Kristen and James's clothes. Following test screenings, it was decided by the producers that the strangers' faces should remain unseen to the audience, which required the sequences following the stabbing to be excised.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: A musical score, consisting of 19 pieces composed by score producer tomandandy, was released on May 27, 2008, and was distributed by Lakeshore Records. The album was received with generally positive reviews by critics. "It's a creepy score for what appears to be a movie that will make you jump as well as make sure that the doors are locked at night," writes reviewer Jeff Swindoll. "This is an impressive score and adds a tremendous chill-factor to the film," says Zach Freeman of "Blogger News", grading it with an A.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In late July 2007, Bertino, Tyler and Speedman attended San Diego's annual Comic-Con event to promote the film; all three were present for a questions-and-answers panel session, as well as a screening of the film's official teaser trailer; this trailer was released on the internet several weeks later. It was not until March 2008 that a full-length trailer for the film was released, which can be found on Apple's QuickTime trailer gallery. The trailer originally began running in theaters attached to Rogue Pictures' sci-fi film "Doomsday" in March 2008, and television advertisements began airing on networks in early-mid April 2008 to promote the film's May release.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Two one-sheet posters for the film were released in August 2007, one showing the three masked Strangers, and the other displaying a wounded Liv Tyler. In April 2008, roughly two months before the film's official theatrical debut, the final, official one-sheet for the film was released, featuring Liv Tyler standing in a darkened kitchen with a masked man looming behind her in the shadows.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: The producers originally planned for a summer release in July 2007, which was eventually postponed to November 2007; however, this date was postponed as well. The producers instead opted for a summer release, and "The Strangers" had its theatrical debut in United States and Canada on May 30, 2008. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $21 million in 2,467 theaters, ranking #3 at the box office and averaging $8,514 per theater. The film became a sleeper hit with a successful box-office return, earning $82.4 million worldwide.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: "The Strangers" was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on October 21, 2008. Both the Blu-ray and DVD feature rated and unrated versions of the film, with the unrated edition running approximately two minutes longer. Bonus materials include two deleted scenes and a making-of featurette. The DVD was released in the UK on December 26, 2008. The film was available on Universal VOD (Video on Demand) from November 19, 2008, through March 31, 2009. In commemoration of the film's 10th anniversary, a two-disc collector's edition Blu-ray by Scream Factory was released on March 6, 2018, featuring a 2K video transfer, as well as a combination of new and archival cast and crew interviews.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 48% based on 165 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads: ""The Strangers" has a handful of genuinely scary moments, but they're not enough to elevate the end results above standard slasher fare." Metacritic reported a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Unfavorable reviews included Roger Ebert's of the "Chicago Sun-Times", who gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, saying: "The movie deserves more stars for its bottom-line craft, but all the craft in the world can't redeem its story." Bob Mondello of NPR said the film was "A sadistic, unmotivated home-invasion flick." Steven Rea of "The Philadelphia Inquirer" noted that "No one is getting at anything in The Strangers, except the cheapest, ugliest kind of sadistic titillation." Elizabeth Weitzman of the "New York Daily News" compared the film to 2007's "Vacancy" – a "comparison which does 'Strangers' no favors. 'Vacancy' director Nimród Antal gave us a pair of heroes who fought like hell to survive, becoming closer and stronger in the effort. Bertino's undeveloped protagonists are colossally stupid and frustratingly passive." Stephen Hunter of "The Washington Post" panned the film, calling it "a fraud from start to finish." Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle", said the film "uses cinema to ends that are objectionable and vile," but admitted that "it does it well, with more than usual skill." Wesley Morris of "The Boston Globe" said of the director, "Bertino has the pretensions of an artist and the indelicacy of a hack. He tries to get under our skin with a pile driver." Stephen Whitty of "The Star-Ledger" opined of the film, "Unfolding with an almost startling lack of self-awareness, young filmmaker Bryan Bertino's debut is such a careful, straight-faced knockoff of '70s exploitation films that it plays like a parody."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Among the positive reviews, Jeannette Catsoulis of "The New York Times" said "The Strangers" is "suspenseful," "highly effective," and "smartly maintain[s] its commitment to tingling creepiness over bludgeoning horror." Michael Rechtshaffen of "The Hollywood Reporter" called the film a "creepily atmospheric psychological thriller with a death grip on the psychological aspect." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying that, "This is one of those rare horror movies that concentrates on suspense and terror rather than on gore and a high body count." Scott Tobias of "The A.V. Club" said that "as an exercise in controlled mayhem, horror movies don't get much scarier."


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: Additional positive feedback for the film came from Joblo.com reviewer Berge Garabedian, who praised director Bertino for "building the tension nicely, with lots of silences, creepy voices, jump scares, use of songs and a sharp eye behind the camera, as well as plenty of Steadicam give it all more of a voyeuristic feel." "Empire Magazine" remarked on the film's retro-style, saying, "Like much recent horror, from the homages of the Grindhouse gang through flat multiplex remakes of drive-in classics, "The Strangers" looks to the '70s.", and ultimately branded the film as "an effective, scary emotional work-out." "Slant Magazine"s Nick Schager listed "The Strangers" as the 9th best film of 2008.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In 2009, the film was ranked #13 on "Bravo's 13 Scarier Movie Moments" television piece, and in a 2018 retrospective, Clark Collis of "Entertainment Weekly" deemed the film a "modern-day slasher classic." "The A.V. Club" named it the 23rd best horror film made since 2000.


title: The Strangers (2008 film)

text: In August 2008, Rogue Pictures confirmed that a sequel was in the works, with Brian Bertino co-writing the screenplay with Ben Ketai. The project was originally slated to enter principal photography in 2009, during which time it was tentatively titled "The Strangers: Part II". Directors Laurent Briet and Marcel Langenegger were considered to direct, but landed eventually to Johannes Roberts. After a troubled development period, filming on the sequel began May 30, 2017. Later titled "The Strangers: Prey at Night", the film was released on March 9, 2018.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, as one of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture. Duchamp has had an immense impact on twentieth-century and twenty first-century art, and he had a seminal influence on the development of conceptual art. By the time of World War I he had rejected the work of many of his fellow artists (such as Henri Matisse) as "retinal" art, intended only to please the eye. Instead, Duchamp wanted to use art to serve the mind.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Marcel Duchamp was born at Blainville-Crevon in Normandy, France, to Eugène Duchamp and Lucie Duchamp (formerly Lucie Nicolle) and grew up in a family that enjoyed cultural activities. The art of painter and engraver Émile Frédéric Nicolle, his maternal grandfather, filled the house, and the family liked to play chess, read books, paint, and make music together.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Of Eugene and Lucie Duchamp's seven children, one died as an infant and four became successful artists. Marcel Duchamp was the brother of:


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: As a child, with his two elder brothers already away from home at school in Rouen, Duchamp was closer to his sister Suzanne, who was a willing accomplice in games and activities conjured by his fertile imagination. At eight years old, Duchamp followed in his brothers' footsteps when he left home and began schooling at the Lycée Pierre-Corneille, in Rouen. Two other students in his class also became well-known artists and lasting friends: Robert Antoine Pinchon and Pierre Dumont. For the next eight years, he was locked into an educational regime which focused on intellectual development. Though he was not an outstanding student, his best subject was mathematics and he won two mathematics prizes at the school. He also won a prize for drawing in 1903, and at his commencement in 1904 he won a coveted first prize, validating his recent decision to become an artist.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: He learned academic drawing from a teacher who unsuccessfully attempted to "protect" his students from Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and other avant-garde influences. However, Duchamp's true artistic mentor at the time was his brother Jacques Villon, whose fluid and incisive style he sought to imitate. At 14, his first serious art attempts were drawings and watercolors depicting his sister Suzanne in various poses and activities. That summer he also painted landscapes in an Impressionist style using oils.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp's early art works align with Post-Impressionist styles. He experimented with classical techniques and subjects. When he was later asked about what had influenced him at the time, Duchamp cited the work of Symbolist painter Odilon Redon, whose approach to art was not outwardly anti-academic, but quietly individual.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: He studied art at the Académie Julian from 1904 to 1905, but preferred playing billiards to attending classes. During this time Duchamp drew and sold cartoons which reflected his ribald humor. Many of the drawings use verbal puns (sometimes spanning multiple languages), visual puns, or both. Such play with words and symbols engaged his imagination for the rest of his life.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In 1905, he began his compulsory military service with the 39th Infantry Regiment, working for a printer in Rouen. There he learned typography and printing processes—skills he would use in his later work.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Owing to his eldest brother Jacques' membership in the prestigious Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture Duchamp's work was exhibited in the 1908 Salon d'Automne, and the following year in the Salon des Indépendants. Fauves and Paul Cézanne's proto-Cubism influenced his paintings, although the critic Guillaume Apollinaire—who was eventually to become a friend—criticized what he called "Duchamp's very ugly nudes" ("les nus très vilains de Duchamp"). Duchamp also became lifelong friends with exuberant artist Francis Picabia after meeting him at the 1911 Salon d'Automne, and Picabia proceeded to introduce him to a lifestyle of fast cars and "high" living.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In 1911, at Jacques' home in Puteaux, the brothers hosted a regular discussion group with Cubist artists including Picabia, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Roger de La Fresnaye, Albert Gleizes, Jean Metzinger, Juan Gris, and Alexander Archipenko. Poets and writers also participated. The group came to be known as the Puteaux Group, or the Section d'Or. Uninterested in the Cubists' seriousness, or in their focus on visual matters, Duchamp did not join in discussions of Cubist theory and gained a reputation of being shy. However, that same year he painted in a Cubist style and added an impression of motion by using repetitive imagery.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: During this period Duchamp's fascination with transition, change, movement, and distance became manifest, and as many artists of the time, he was intrigued with the concept of depicting the fourth dimension in art. His painting "Sad Young Man on a Train" embodies this concern:


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: First, there's the idea of the movement of the train, and then that of the sad young man who is in a corridor and who is moving about; thus there are two parallel movements corresponding to each other. Then, there is the distortion of the young man—I had called this "elementary parallelism". It was a formal decomposition; that is, linear elements following each other like parallels and distorting the object. The object is completely stretched out, as if elastic. The lines follow each other in parallels, while changing subtly to form the movement, or the form of the young man in question. I also used this procedure in the "Nude Descending a Staircase".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In his 1911 "Portrait of Chess Players" ("Portrait de joueurs d'échecs") there is the Cubist overlapping frames and multiple perspectives of his two brothers playing chess, but to that Duchamp added elements conveying the unseen mental activity of the players.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Works from this time also included his first "machine" painting, "Coffee Mill (Moulin à café)" (1911), which he gave to his brother Raymond Duchamp-Villon. The later more figurative machine painting of 1914, "Chocolate Grinder" ("Broyeuse de chocolat"), prefigures the mechanism incorporated into the "Large Glass" on which he began work in New York the following year.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp's first work to provoke significant controversy was "Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2" "(Nu descendant un escalier n° 2)" (1912). The painting depicts the mechanistic motion of a nude, with superimposed facets, similar to motion pictures. It shows elements of both the fragmentation and synthesis of the Cubists, and the movement and dynamism of the Futurists.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: He first submitted the piece to appear at the Cubist Salon des Indépendants, but Albert Gleizes (according to Duchamp in an interview with Pierre Cabanne, p. 31) asked Duchamp's brothers to have him voluntarily withdraw the painting, or to paint over the title that he had painted on the work and rename it something else. Duchamp's brothers did approach him with Gleizes' request, but Duchamp quietly refused. However, there was no jury at the Salon des Indépendants and Gleizes was in no position to reject the painting. The controversy, according to art historian Peter Brooke, was not whether the work should be hung or not, but whether it should be hung with the Cubist group.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Of the incident Duchamp later recalled, "I said nothing to my brothers. But I went immediately to the show and took my painting home in a taxi. It was really a turning point in my life, I can assure you. I saw that I would not be very much interested in groups after that." Yet Duchamp did appear in the illustrations to "Du "Cubisme"", he participated in the "La Maison Cubiste (Cubist House)", organized by the designer André Mare for the Salon d'Automne of 1912 (a few months after the Indépendants); he signed the Section d'Or invitation and participated in the Section d'Or exhibition during the fall of 1912. The impression is, Brooke writes, "it was precisely because he wished to remain part of the group that he withdrew the painting; and that, far from being ill treated by the group, he was given a rather privileged position, probably through the patronage of Picabia".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The painting was exhibited for the first time at Galeries Dalmau, "Exposició d'Art Cubista", Barcelona, 1912; the first exhibition of Cubism in Spain Duchamp later submitted the painting to the 1913 "Armory Show" in New York City. In addition to displaying works of American artists, this show was the first major exhibition of modern trends coming out of Paris, encompassing experimental styles of the European avant-garde, including Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism. American show-goers, accustomed to realistic art, were scandalized, and the "Nude" was at the center of much of the controversy.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: At about this time, Duchamp read Max Stirner's philosophical tract, "The Ego and Its Own", the study which he considered another turning point in his artistic and intellectual development. He called it "a remarkable book ... which advances no formal theories, but just keeps saying that the ego is always there in everything."


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: While in Munich in 1912, he painted the last of his Cubist-like paintings. He started "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even" image, and began making plans for "The Large Glass" – scribbling short notes to himself, sometimes with hurried sketches. It would be more than ten years before this piece was completed. Not much else is known about the two-month stay in Munich except that the friend he visited was intent on showing him the sights and the nightlife, and that he was influenced by the works of the sixteenth century German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder in Munich's famed Alte Pinakothek, known for its Old Master paintings. Duchamp recalled that he took the short walk to visit this museum daily. Duchamp scholars have long recognized in Cranach the subdued ochre and brown color range Duchamp later employed.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The same year, Duchamp also attended a performance of a stage adaptation of Raymond Roussel's 1910 novel, "Impressions d'Afrique," which featured plots that turned in on themselves, word play, surrealistic sets and humanoid machines. He credited the drama with having radically changed his approach to art, and having inspired him to begin the creation of his "The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even", also known as "The Large Glass". Work on "The Large Glass" continued into 1913, with his invention of inventing a repertoire of forms. He made notes, sketches and painted studies, and even drew some of his ideas on the wall of his apartment.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Toward the end of 1912, he traveled with Picabia, Apollinaire and Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia through the Jura mountains, an adventure that Buffet-Picabia described as one of their "forays of demoralization, which were also forays of witticism and clownery ... the disintegration of the concept of art". Duchamp's notes from the trip avoid logic and sense, and have a surrealistic, mythical connotation.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp painted few canvases after 1912, and in those he did, he attempted to remove "painterly" effects, and to use a technical drawing approach instead.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: His broad interests led him to an exhibition of aviation technology during this period, after which Duchamp said to his friend Constantin Brâncuși, "Painting is washed up. Who will ever do anything better than that propeller? Tell me, can you do that?". Brâncuși later sculpted bird forms. U.S. Customs officials mistook them for aviation parts and attempted to collect import duties on them.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In 1913, Duchamp withdrew from painting circles and began working as a librarian in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève to be able to earn a living wage while concentrating on scholarly realms and working on his "Large Glass". He studied math and physics – areas where exciting new discoveries were taking place. The theoretical writings of Henri Poincaré particularly intrigued and inspired Duchamp. Poincaré postulated that the laws believed to govern matter were created solely by the minds that "understood" them and that no theory could be considered "true". "The things themselves are not what science can reach..., but only the relations between things. Outside of these relations there is no knowable reality", Poincaré wrote in 1902. Reflecting the influence of Poincaré's writings, Duchamp tolerated any interpretation of his art by regarding it as the creation of the person who formulated it, not as truth.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp's own art-science experiments began during his tenure at the library. To make one of his favorite pieces, "3 Standard Stoppages" ("3 stoppages étalon"), he dropped three 1-meter lengths of thread onto prepared canvases, one at a time, from a height of 1 meter. The threads landed in three random undulating positions. He varnished them into place on the blue-black canvas strips and attached them to glass. He then cut three wood slats into the shapes of the curved strings, and put all the pieces into a croquet box. Three small leather signs with the title printed in gold were glued to the "stoppage" backgrounds. The piece appears to literally follow Poincaré's "School of the Thread", part of a book on classical mechanics.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In his studio he mounted a bicycle wheel upside down onto a stool, spinning it occasionally just to watch it. Although it is often assumed that the "Bicycle Wheel" represents the first of Duchamp's "Readymades", this particular installation was never submitted for any art exhibition, and it was eventually lost. However, initially, the wheel was simply placed in the studio to create atmosphere: "I enjoyed looking at it just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a fireplace."


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: After World War I started in August 1914, with his brothers and many friends in military service and himself exempted (due to a heart murmur), Duchamp felt uncomfortable in Paris. Meanwhile, "Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2" had scandalized Americans at the Armory Show, and helped secure the sale of all four of his paintings in the exhibition. Thus, being able to finance the trip, Duchamp decided to emigrate to the United States in 1915. To his surprise, he found he was a celebrity when he arrived in New York in 1915, where he quickly befriended art patron Katherine Dreier and artist Man Ray. Duchamp's circle included art patrons Louise and Walter Conrad Arensberg, actress and artist Beatrice Wood and Francis Picabia, as well as other avant-garde figures. Though he spoke little English, in the course of supporting himself by giving French lessons, and through some library work, he quickly learned the language. Duchamp became part of an artist colony in Ridgefield, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: For two years the Arensbergs, who would remain his friends and patrons for 42 years, were the landlords of his studio. In lieu of rent, they agreed that his payment would be "The Large Glass". An art gallery offered Duchamp $10,000 per year in exchange for all of his yearly production, but he declined the offer, preferring to continue his work on "The Large Glass".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp created the Société Anonyme in 1920, along with Katherine Dreier and Man Ray. This was the beginning of his lifelong involvement in art dealing and collecting. The group collected modern art works, and arranged modern art exhibitions and lectures throughout the 1930s.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: By this time Walter Pach, one of the coordinators of the 1913 Armory Show, sought Duchamp's advice on modern art. Beginning with Société Anonyme, Dreier also depended on Duchamp's counsel in gathering her collection, as did Arensberg. Later Peggy Guggenheim, Museum of Modern Art directors Alfred Barr and James Johnson Sweeney consulted with Duchamp on their modern art collections and shows.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Dada or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. It began in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1916, and spread to Berlin shortly thereafter. To quote Dona Budd's "The Language of Art Knowledge",


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Dada was born out of negative reaction to the horrors of World War I. This international movement was begun by a group of artists and poets associated with the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. Dada rejected reason and logic, prizing nonsense, irrationality, and intuition. The origin of the name Dada is unclear; some believe that it is a nonsense word. Others maintain that it originates from the Romanian artists Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco's frequent use of the words da, da, meaning yes, yes in the Romanian language. Another theory says that the name "Dada" came during a meeting of the group when a paper knife stuck into a French-German dictionary happened to point to "dada", a French word for "hobbyhorse".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature, poetry, art manifestoes, art theory, theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. In addition to being anti-war, Dada was also anti-bourgeois and had political affinities with the radical left.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Dada activities included public gatherings, demonstrations, and publication of art/literary journals; passionate coverage of art, politics, and culture were topics often discussed in a variety of media. Key figures in the movement, apart from Duchamp, included: Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Hans Arp, Raoul Hausmann, Hannah Höch, Johannes Baader, Tristan Tzara, Francis Picabia, Richard Huelsenbeck, Georg Grosz, John Heartfield, Beatrice Wood, Kurt Schwitters, and Hans Richter, among others. The movement influenced later styles, such as the avant-garde and downtown music movements, and groups including surrealism, Nouveau réalisme, pop art, and Fluxus.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Dada is the groundwork to abstract art and sound poetry, a starting point for performance art, a prelude to postmodernism, an influence on pop art, a celebration of antiart to be later embraced for anarcho-political uses in the 1960s and the movement that lay the foundation for Surrealism.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: New York Dada had a less serious tone than that of European Dadaism, and was not a particularly organized venture. Duchamp's friend Francis Picabia connected with the Dada group in Zürich, bringing to New York the Dadaist ideas of absurdity and "anti-art". Duchamp and Picabia first met in September 1911 at the Salon d'Automne in Paris, where they were both exhibiting. Duchamp showed a larger version of his "Young Man and Girl in Spring" 1911, a work that had an Edenic theme and a thinly veiled sexuality also found in Picabia's contemporaneous "Adam and Eve" 1911. According to Duchamp, "our friendship began right there". A group met almost nightly at the Arensberg home, or caroused in Greenwich Village. Together with Man Ray, Duchamp contributed his ideas and humor to the New York activities, many of which ran concurrent with the development of his Readymades and "The Large Glass".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The most prominent example of Duchamp's association with Dada was his submission of "Fountain", a urinal, to the Society of Independent Artists exhibit in 1917. Artworks in the Independent Artists shows were not selected by jury, and all pieces submitted were displayed. However, the show committee insisted that "Fountain" was not art, and rejected it from the show. This caused an uproar among the Dadaists, and led Duchamp to resign from the board of the Independent Artists.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Along with Henri-Pierre Roché and Beatrice Wood, Duchamp published multiple Dada magazines in New York—including "The Blind Man" and "Rongwrong"—which included art, literature, humor and commentary.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: "Readymades" were found objects which Duchamp chose and presented as art. In 1913, Duchamp installed a "Bicycle Wheel" in his studio. However, the idea of "Readymades" did not fully develop until 1915. The idea was to question the very notion of Art, and the adoration of art, which Duchamp found "unnecessary".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: "Bottle Rack" (1914), a bottle-drying rack signed by Duchamp, is considered to be the first "pure" readymade. "In Advance of the Broken Arm" (1915), a snow shovel, also called "Prelude to a Broken Arm", followed soon after. His "Fountain", a urinal signed with the pseudonym "R. Mutt", shocked the art world in 1917. "Fountain" was selected in 2004 as "the most influential artwork of the 20th century" by 500 renowned artists and historians.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In 1919, Duchamp made a parody of the "Mona Lisa" by adorning a cheap reproduction of the painting with a mustache and goatee. To this he added the inscription "L.H.O.O.Q.", a phonetic game which, when read out loud in French quickly sounds like ""Elle a chaud au cul"". This can be translated as "She has a hot ass", implying that the woman in the painting is in a state of sexual excitement and availability. It may also have been intended as a Freudian joke, referring to Leonardo da Vinci's alleged homosexuality. Duchamp gave a "loose" translation of L.H.O.O.Q. as "there is fire down below" in a late interview with Arturo Schwarz. According to Rhonda Roland Shearer, the apparent "Mona Lisa" reproduction is in fact a copy modeled partly on Duchamp's own face. Research published by Shearer also speculates that Duchamp himself may have created some of the objects which he claimed to be "found objects".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp worked on his complex Futurism-inspired piece "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass)" from 1915 to 1923, except for periods in Buenos Aires and Paris in 1918–1920. He executed the work on two panes of glass with materials such as lead foil, fuse wire, and dust. It combines chance procedures, plotted perspective studies, and laborious craftsmanship. He published notes for the piece, "The Green Box", intended to complement the visual experience. They reflect the creation of unique rules of physics, and a mythology which describes the work. He stated that his "hilarious picture" is intended to depict the erotic encounter between a bride and her nine bachelors.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: A performance of the stage adaptation of Raymond Roussel's novel "Impressions d'Afrique", which Duchamp attended in 1912, inspired the piece. Notes, sketches and plans for the work were drawn on his studio walls as early as 1913. To concentrate on the work free from material obligations, Duchamp found work as a librarian while living in France. After immigrating to the United States in 1915, he began work on the piece, financed by the support of the Arensbergs.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The piece is partly constructed as a retrospective of Duchamp's works, including a three-dimensional reproduction of his earlier paintings "Bride" (1912), "Chocolate Grinder" (1914) and "Glider containing a water mill in neighboring metals" (1913–1915), which has led to numerous interpretations. The work was formally declared "Unfinished" in 1923. Returning from its first public exhibition in a shipping crate, the glass suffered a large crack. Duchamp repaired it, but left the smaller cracks in the glass intact, accepting the chance element as a part of the piece.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Joseph Nechvatal has cast a considerable light on "The Large Glass" by noting the autoerotic implications of both bachelorhood and the repetitive, frenetic machine; he then discerns a larger constellation of themes by insinuating that autoeroticsm – and with the machine as omnipresent partner and practitioner – opens out into a subversive pan-sexuality as expressed elsewhere in Duchamp's work and career, in that a trance-inducing pleasure becomes the operative principle as opposed to the dictates of the traditional male-female coupling; and he as well documents the existence of this theme cluster throughout modernism, starting with Rodin's controversial Monument to Balzac, and culminating in a Duchampian vision of a techno-universe in which one and all can find themselves welcomed.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Until 1969 when the Philadelphia Museum of Art revealed Duchamp's "Étant donnés" tableau, "The Large Glass" was thought to have been his last major work.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp's interest in kinetic art works can be discerned as early as the notes for "The Large Glass" and the "Bicycle Wheel" readymade, and despite losing interest in "retinal art", he retained interest in visual phenomena. In 1920, with help from Man Ray, Duchamp built a motorized sculpture, "Rotative plaques verre, optique de précision" ("Rotary Glass Plates, Precision Optics"). The piece, which he did not consider to be art, involved a motor to spin pieces of rectangular glass on which were painted segments of a circle. When the apparatus spins, an optical illusion occurs, where the segments appear to be closed concentric circles. Man Ray set up equipment to photograph the initial experiment, but when they turned the machine for the second time, a drive belt broke and caught a piece of the glass, which after glancing off Man Ray's head, shattered into bits.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: After moving back to Paris in 1923, at André Breton's urging, with financing by Jacques Doucet, Duchamp built another optical device based on the first one, "Rotative Demisphère, optique de précision" (Rotary Demisphere, Precision Optics). This time the optical element was a globe cut in half, with black concentric circles painted on it. When it spins, the circles appear to move backward and forward in space. Duchamp asked that Doucet not exhibit the apparatus as art.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: "Rotoreliefs" were the next phase of Duchamp's spinning works. To make the optical "play toys", he painted designs on flat cardboard circles and spun them on a phonographic turntable. When spinning, the flat disks appeared three-dimensional. He had a printer produce 500 sets of six of the designs, and set up a booth at a 1935 Paris inventors' show to sell them. The venture was a financial disaster, but some optical scientists thought they might be of use in restoring three-dimensional stereoscopic sight to people who have lost vision in one eye. In collaboration with Man Ray and Marc Allégret, Duchamp filmed early versions of the "Rotoreliefs", and they named the film "Anémic Cinéma" (1926). Later, in Alexander Calder's studio in 1931, while looking at the sculptor's kinetic works, Duchamp suggested that these should be called "mobiles". Calder agreed to use this novel term in his upcoming show. To this day, sculptures of this type are called "mobiles".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Between 1912 and 1915, Duchamp worked with various musical ideas. At least three pieces have survived: two compositions and a note for a musical happening. The two compositions are based on chance operations. "Erratum Musical", written for three voices, was published in 1934. "La Mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires même. Erratum Musical" is unfinished and was never published or exhibited during Duchamp's lifetime. According to the manuscript, the piece was intended for a mechanical instrument "in which the virtuoso intermediary is suppressed". The manuscript also contains a description for "An apparatus automatically recording fragmented musical periods," consisting of a funnel, several open-end cars and a set of numbered balls. These pieces predate John Cage's "Music of Changes" (1951), which is often considered the first modern piece to be conceived largely through random procedures.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In 1968, Duchamp and John Cage appeared together at a concert entitled "Reunion", playing a game of chess and composing Aleatoric music by triggering a series of photoelectric cells underneath the chessboard.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: "Rrose Sélavy", also spelled Rose Sélavy, was one of Duchamp's pseudonyms. The name, a pun, sounds like the French phrase , which may be translated as "Eros, such is life." It has also been read as ("to make a toast to life"). Sélavy emerged in 1921 in a series of photographs by Man Ray showing Duchamp dressed as a woman. Through the 1920s Man Ray and Duchamp collaborated on more photos of Sélavy. Duchamp later used the name as the byline on written material and signed several creations with it.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp used the name in the title of at least one sculpture, "Why Not Sneeze Rose Sélavy?" (1921). The sculpture, a type of readymade called an assemblage, consists of an oral thermometer, a couple of dozen small cubes of marble resembling sugar cubes and a cuttlefish bone inside a birdcage. Sélavy also appears on the label of "Belle Haleine, Eau de Voilette" (1921), a readymade that is a perfume bottle in the original box. Duchamp also signed his film "Anémic Cinéma" (1926) with the Sélavy name.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The inspiration for the name Rrose Sélavy has been thought to be Belle da Costa Greene, J. P. Morgan's librarian at The Morgan Library & Museum (formerly The Pierpont Morgan Library) who, following his death, became the Library's director, working there for a total of forty-three years. Empowered by J. P. Morgan, and then by his son Jack, Greene built the collection buying and selling rare manuscripts, books and art.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Rrose Sélavy, and the other pseudonyms Duchamp used, may be read as a comment on the fallacy of romanticizing the conscious individuality or subjectivity of the artist, a theme that is also a prominent subtext of the readymades. Duchamp said in an interview, "You think you're doing something entirely your own, and a year later you look at it and you see actually the roots of where your art comes from without your knowing it at all."


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: From 1922, the name Rrose Sélavy also started appearing in a series of aphorisms, puns, and spoonerisms by the French surrealist poet Robert Desnos. Desnos tried to portray Rrose Sélavy as a long-lost aristocrat and rightful queen of France. Aphorism 13 paid homage to Marcel Duchamp: ‒ in English: "Rrose Sélavy knows the merchant of salt well"; in French the final words sound like Mar-champ Du-cel. Note that the "salt seller" aphorism – "mar-chand-du-sel" – is a phonetic anagram of the artist's name: "mar-cel-du-champ". (Duchamp's compiled notes are entitled, "Salt Seller".) In 1939 a collection of these aphorisms was published under the name of Rrose Sélavy, entitled, .


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In 1918, Duchamp took leave of the New York art scene, interrupting his work on the "Large Glass", and went to Buenos Aires, where he remained for nine months and often played chess. He carved his own chess set from wood with help from a local craftsman who made the knights. He moved to Paris in 1919, and then back to the United States in 1920. Upon his return to Paris in 1923, Duchamp was, in essence, no longer a practicing artist. Instead, his main interest was chess, which he studied for the rest of his life to the exclusion of most other activities.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp is seen, briefly, playing chess with Man Ray in the short film "Entr'acte" (1924) by René Clair. He designed the 1925 poster for the Third French Chess Championship, and as a competitor in the event, finished at fifty percent (3–3, with two draws), earning the title of chess master. During this period his fascination with chess so distressed his first wife that she glued his pieces to the chessboard. Duchamp continued to play in the French Championships and also in the Chess Olympiads from 1928 to 1933, favoring hypermodern openings such as the Nimzo-Indian.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Sometime in the early 1930s, Duchamp reached the height of his ability, but realized that he had little chance of winning recognition in top-level chess. In the following years, his participation in chess tournaments declined, but he discovered correspondence chess and became a chess journalist, writing weekly newspaper columns. While his contemporaries were achieving spectacular success in the art world by selling their works to high-society collectors, Duchamp observed, "I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art—and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position." On another occasion, Duchamp elaborated, "The chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chess-board, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem. ... I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists."


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In 1932, Duchamp teamed with chess theorist Vitaly Halberstadt to publish "L'opposition et cases conjuguées sont réconciliées" (Opposition and Sister Squares are Reconciled), known as corresponding squares. This treatise describes the Lasker-Reichhelm position, an extremely rare type of position that can arise in the endgame. Using enneagram-like charts that fold upon themselves, the authors demonstrated that in this position, the most Black can hope for is a draw.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The theme of the "endgame" is important to an understanding of Duchamp's complex attitude toward his artistic career. Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was an associate of Duchamp, and used the theme as the narrative device for the 1957 play of the same name, "Endgame". In 1968, Duchamp played an artistically important chess match with avant-garde composer John Cage, at a concert entitled "Reunion". Music was produced by a series of photoelectric cells underneath the chessboard, triggered sporadically by normal game play.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: On choosing a career in chess, Duchamp said, "If Bobby Fischer came to me for advice, I certainly would not discourage him—as if anyone could—but I would try to make it positively clear that he will never have any money from chess, live a monk-like existence and know more rejection than any artist ever has, struggling to be known and accepted."


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp left a legacy to chess in the form of an enigmatic endgame problem he composed in 1943. The problem was included in the announcement for Julian Levi's gallery exhibition "Through the Big End of the Opera Glass", printed on translucent paper with the faint inscription: "White to play and win". Grandmasters and endgame specialists have since grappled with the problem, with most concluding that there is no solution.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Although Duchamp was no longer considered to be an active artist, he continued to consult with artists, art dealers and collectors. From 1925 he often traveled between France and the United States, and made New York's Greenwich Village his home in 1942. He also occasionally worked on artistic projects such as the short film "Anémic Cinéma" (1926), "Box in a Valise" (1935–1941), "Self Portrait in Profile" (1958) and the larger work "Étant Donnés" (1946–1966). In 1943, he participated with Maya Deren in her unfinished film "The Witch's Cradle", filmed in Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century gallery.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: From the mid-1930s onward he collaborated with the Surrealists; however, he did not join the movement, despite the coaxing of André Breton. From then until 1944, together with Max Ernst, Eugenio Granell, and Breton, Duchamp edited the Surrealist periodical "VVV", and served as an advisory editor for the magazine "View", which featured him in its March 1945 edition, thus introducing him to a broader American audience.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp's influence on the art world remained behind the scenes until the late 1950s, when he was "discovered" by young artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, who were eager to escape the dominance of Abstract Expressionism. He was a co-founder of the international literary group Oulipo in 1960. Interest in Duchamp was reignited in the 1960s, and he gained international public recognition. In 1963, the Pasadena Art Museum mounted his first retrospective exhibition, and there he appeared in an iconic photograph playing chess opposite nude model Eve Babitz. The photograph was later described by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art as being "among the key documentary images of American modern art".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The Tate Gallery hosted a large exhibit of his work in 1966. Other major institutions, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, followed with large showings of Duchamp's work. He was invited to lecture on art and to participate in formal discussions, as well as sitting for interviews with major publications. As the last surviving member of the Duchamp family of artists, in 1967 Duchamp helped to organize an exhibition in Rouen, France, called "Les Duchamp: Jacques Villon, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Marcel Duchamp, Suzanne Duchamp". Parts of this family exhibition were later shown again at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp participated in the design of the 1938 Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, held at the Galerie des Beaux-arts, Paris. The show was organised by André Breton and Paul Éluard, and featured "Two hundred and twenty-nine artworks by sixty exhibitors from fourteen countries... at this multimedia exhibition." The Surrealists wanted to create an exhibition which in itself would be a creative act, thus working collaboratively in its staging. Marcel Duchamp was named as "Generateur-arbitre", Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst were listed as technical directors, Man Ray was chief lighting technician and Wolfgang Paalen responsible for "water and foliage".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: "Plus belles rues de Paris" (The most beautiful streets of Paris) filled one side of the lobby with mannequins dressed by various Surrealists. The main hall, or the "Salle de Superstition" (Room of Superstition), was "a cave-like Gesamtkunstwerk" notably including Duchamp's installation, "Twelve Hundred Coal Bags Suspended from the Ceiling over a Stove", which was literally 1,200 stuffed coal bags suspended from the ceiling. The floor was covered by Paalen with dead leaves and mud from the Montparnasse Cemetery. In the middle of the grand hall underneath Duchamp's coal sacks, Paalen installed an artificial water-filled pond with real water lilies and reeds, which he called "Avant La Mare". A single light bulb provided the only illumination, so patrons were given flashlights with which to view the art (an idea of Man Ray), while the aroma of roasting coffee filled the air. Around midnight, the visitors witnessed the dancing shimmer of a scantily dressed girl who suddenly arose from the reeds, jumped on a bed, shrieked hysterically, then disappeared just as quickly. Much to the Surrealists' satisfaction, the exhibition scandalized many of the guests.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In 1942, for the "First Papers of Surrealism" show in New York, surrealists called on Duchamp to design the exhibition. He created an installation, "His Twine", commonly known as the "mile of string", it was a three-dimensional web of string throughout the rooms of the space, in some cases making it almost impossible to see the works. Duchamp made a secret arrangement with an associate's son to bring young friends to the opening of the show. When the formally-dressed patrons arrived, they found a dozen children in athletic clothes kicking and passing balls, and skipping rope. When questioned, the children were told to say "Mr. Duchamp told us we could play here". Duchamp's design of the catalog for the show included "found", rather than posed, photographs of the artists.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Breton with Duchamp organized the exhibition "Le surréalisme en 1947" in the Galerie Maeght in Paris after the war and named set designer Frederick Kiesler as architect.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp's final major art work surprised the art world, which believed he had given up art for chess 25 years earlier. Entitled "Étant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau / 2° le gaz d'éclairage" ("Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas"), it is a tableau, visible only through a peep hole in a wooden door. A nude woman may be seen lying on her back with her face hidden, legs spread, and one hand holding a gas lamp in the air against a landscape backdrop. Duchamp had worked secretly on the piece from 1946 to 1966 in his Greenwich Village studio while even his closest friends thought he had abandoned art. The torso of the nude figure is based on Duchamp's lover, the Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins, with whom he had an affair from 1946 to 1951.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: In June 1927, Duchamp married ; however, they divorced six months later. It was rumored that Duchamp had chosen a marriage of convenience, because Sarazin-Lavassor was the daughter of a wealthy automobile manufacturer. Early in January 1928, Duchamp said that he could no longer bear the responsibility and confinement of marriage, and they were soon divorced.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp died suddenly and peacefully in the early morning of 2 October 1968 at his home in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. After an evening dining at home with his friends Man Ray and , Duchamp retired at 1:05 am, collapsed in his studio, and died of heart failure.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: He is buried in the Rouen Cemetery, in Rouen, France, with the epitaph, "D'ailleurs, c'est toujours les autres qui meurent" ("Besides, it's always the others who die").


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Many critics consider Duchamp to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, and his output influenced the development of post–World War I Western art. He advised modern art collectors, such as Peggy Guggenheim and other prominent figures, thereby helping to shape the tastes of Western art during this period. He challenged conventional thought about artistic processes and rejected the emerging art market, through subversive anti-art. He famously dubbed a urinal art and named it "Fountain". Duchamp produced relatively few artworks and remained mostly aloof of the avant-garde circles of his time. He went on to pretend to abandon art and devote the rest of his life to chess, while secretly continuing to make art. In 1958 Duchamp said of creativity,


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: Duchamp in his later life explicitly expressed negativity toward art. In a BBC interview with Duchamp conducted by Joan Bakewell in 1968 he compared art with religion, saying that he wished to do away with art the same way many have done away with religion. Duchamp goes on to explain to the interviewer that "the word art etymologically means to do", that art means activity of any kind, and that it is our society that creates "purely artificial" distinctions of being an artist.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: A quotation erroneously attributed to Duchamp suggests a negative attitude toward later trends in 20th century art:


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: However, this was written in 1961 by fellow Dadaist Hans Richter, in the second person, i.e. "You threw the bottle-rack...". Although a marginal note in the letter suggests that Duchamp generally approved of the statement, Richter did not make the distinction clear until many years later.


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: The Prix Marcel Duchamp (Marcel Duchamp Prize), established in 2000, is an annual award given to a young artist by the Centre Georges Pompidou. In 2004, as a testimony to the legacy of Duchamp's work to the art world, a panel of prominent artists and art historians voted "Fountain" "the most influential artwork of the 20th century".


title: Marcel Duchamp

text: On 17 November 1999, a version of "Fountain" (owned by Arturo Schwarz) was sold at Sotheby's, New York, for $1,762,500 to Dimitris Daskalopoulos, who declared that "Fountain" represented the origin of contemporary art. The price set a world record, at the time, for a work by Marcel Duchamp at public auction. The record has since been surpassed by a work sold at Christie's Paris, titled "Belle Haleine, Eau de Voilette" (1921). The readymade of a perfume bottle in its box sold for a record $11.5 million (€8.9 million).


title: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

text: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (or simply Eclipse) is a 2010 American romantic fantasy film directed by David Slade from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the 2007 novel "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer. The sequel to "" (2009), it is the third installment in "The Twilight Saga" film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively. Bryce Dallas Howard joins the cast as returning character Victoria, who was previously portrayed by Rachelle Lefevre in the first two films.


title: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

text: Summit Entertainment announced it had greenlit the film on February 20, 2009. Principal photography began on August 17, in Vancouver, Canada, and finished on October 31, with post-production beginning early the following month.