In Advance of the Broken Arm

In Advance of the Broken Arm, also called Prelude to a Broken Arm, is a 1915 sculpture by Dada artist Marcel Duchamp that consisted of a regular snow shovel with "from Marcel Duchamp 1915" painted on the handle. One explanation for the title is that without the shovel to remove snow, one might fall and break an arm. This type of humor is not atypical of dadaist work.

An antidote to what Duchamp called "retinal art", In Advance of the Broken Arm was the second of a series of sculptures that he named "ready-mades", the most famous of which is his 1917 Fountain. At the time, the term "ready-made" referred to manufactured goods as opposed to handmade goods, but Duchamp used the term to describe "an ordinary object elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the mere choice of an artist".

The original was hung from a wire in the studio and has since been lost. A replica of the sculpture is on display at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.

See also

• List of works by Marcel Duchamp

References

External links

• Museum of Modern Art, New York City, In Advance of the Broken Arm

1. In Advance of the Broken Arm (album)
2. Marnie Stern
3. Fountain (Duchamp)
4. Zach Hill
5. Snow shovel
6. Marcel Duchamp
7. List of found objects
8. Readymades of Marcel Duchamp
9. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2
10. List of works by Marcel Duchamp
11. Alexina Duchamp
12. Ron Padgett
13. Thierry Geoffroy
14. Conceptual art
15. Appropriation (art)
16. Moderna Museet
17. Apolinère Enameled
18. Marcel Duchamp Prize
19. This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
20. Rhonda Roland Shearer