Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) has entered mainstream culture as one of the founding fathers of modern art Despite his popularity books on Duchamp often shroud his work in theoretical & critical writing Here instead is a book exploring the artist&s life & work in a thoroughly new & engaging manner with short alphabetical dictionary entries written in lively jargon- free prose that at last allow Duchamp&s work & influence to be accessible & enjoyable for a wide audience The book features more than 200 entries on the most interesting & important artworks relationships people & ideas in Duchamp&s life from chess puns the fourth dimension love & genius to the Bicycle Wheel & Fountain Walter & Louise Arensberg Peggy Guggenheim Katherine S Dreier & Arturo Schwarz A contextual introduction shows how the dictionary form has been an inspiration to artists & writers from Flaubert to the Surrealists Underpinned by the latest scholarship & research Thomas Girst&s texts show how in the words of contemporary artist Thomas Hirschhorn Duchamp was &the most intelligent mind of his time&