"새로운 어떤 것-미국적인 어떤 것"

"Something New - Something American": Dadaism of William Carlos Williams and Marcel Duchamp

Williams and Duchamp have been regarded as the representative American artists who lead the 20th century's avant-garde art movement pursuing "something new." Affiliated with the Arensberg circle together, both of them knew their identical interest in both literature and painting. Duchamp, an expatriate French painter, has been considered a well-known precursor of New York Dada movement along with Francis Picabia and Man Ray. However, I believe, it shouldn't be ignored the importance of Williams as a Dadaist in America. In fact, among many British and American artists, it is evident that Williams is the poet who concretely deals with Dadaism associated with Duchamp. Most importantly, Dadaism of Williams and Duchamp is always associated with the discovery of independent American art free from the Western European influences. Duchamps' anti-retinal attitude results in the subversive and provocative works of arts such as The Large Glass, Nude Descending a Staircase, 3 Standard Stoppage, In Advance of the Broken Arm, Fountain. Especially, he maintains a "new thought" to become indigenous American art through his ready-made entitled Fountain. Williams incomparably analyzes these Duchamp's works in his prose and poetry, so that he can develop his poetry which have to do with "the perfection of new forms." In this regard, it is not to much to say that Williams can be the most representative American Dadaist. By capturing "new thought" represented by Duchamp's Dadaist works, Williams could create the poetry of "new forms," that is, "something new－something American" poetry.