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Apart from cer\u00adtain stretch\u00ades of absence<\/a>, Leonar\u00addo\u2019s Mona Lisa has been on dis\u00adplay at the Lou\u00advre for 228 years and count\u00ading.\u00a0Though cre\u00adat\u00aded by an Ital\u00adian in Italy, the paint\u00ading has long since been a part of French cul\u00adture.\u00a0At some point, the rev\u00ader\u00adence for La Joconde, as the\u00a0Mona Lisa is local\u00adly known, reached such an inten\u00adsi\u00adty as to inspire the label Jocondisme. For Mar\u00adcel Duchamp<\/a>, it all seems to have been a bit much.\u00a0In 1919, he bought a post\u00adcard bear\u00ading the image of that most famous of all paint\u00adings, drew a mus\u00adtache and goa\u00adtee on it, and dubbed the result\u00ading \u201cart\u00adwork\u201d L.H.O.O.Q., whose French pro\u00adnun\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion\u00a0\u201cElle a chaud au cul\u201d trans\u00adlates to \u2014 as Duchamp mod\u00adest\u00adly put it \u2014 \u201cThere is fire down below.\u201d<\/p>\n A cen\u00adtu\u00adry ago, this was a high\u00adly irrev\u00ader\u00adent, even blas\u00adphe\u00admous act, but also just what one might expect from the man who, a cou\u00adple years ear\u00adli\u00ader, signed a uri\u00adnal and put it on dis\u00adplay in a gallery.<\/a>\u00a0Like the much-scru\u00adti\u00adnized Foun\u00adtain, L.H.O.O.Q.\u00a0was one of Ducham\u00adp\u2019s \u201cready\u00admades,\u201d or artis\u00adtic provo\u00adca\u00adtions exe\u00adcut\u00aded by mod\u00adi\u00adfy\u00ading and re-con\u00adtex\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adiz\u00ading found objects.<\/p>\n Nei\u00adther was sin\u00adgu\u00adlar: just as Duchamp signed mul\u00adti\u00adple uri\u00adnals, he also drew (or did\u00adn\u2019t draw) facial hair on mul\u00adti\u00adple Mona Lisa\u00a0post\u00adcards. In one instance, he even gave the okay to his fel\u00adlow artist\u00a0Fran\u00adcis Picabia to make one for pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion in his mag\u00ada\u00adzine in New York as, nev\u00ader\u00adthe\u00adless, \u201cpar Mar\u00adcel Duchamp\u201d \u2014 though it lacked a goa\u00adtee, an omis\u00adsion the artist cor\u00adrect\u00aded in his own hand some twen\u00adty years lat\u00ader.<\/p>\n In the 1956 inter\u00adview just above<\/a>, Duchamp describes L.H.O.O.Q.\u00a0as a part of his \u201cDada<\/a> peri\u00adod\u201d (and, with char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtic mod\u00adesty, \u201ca great icon\u00ado\u00adclas\u00adtic ges\u00adture on my part\u201d). He also brings out a fake check \u2014 belong\u00ading to \u201cno bank at all\u201d \u2014 that he cre\u00adat\u00aded to use at the den\u00adtist (who accept\u00aded it); and a sys\u00adtem designed to \u201cbreak the bank at Monte Car\u00adlo\u201d (which stub\u00adborn\u00adly remained unbro\u00adken). \u201cI believe that art is the only form of activ\u00adi\u00adty in which man, as a man, shows him\u00adself to be a true indi\u00advid\u00adual, and is capa\u00adble of going beyond the ani\u00admal state,\u201d he declares. With his col\u00adli\u00adsion of Jocondisme\u00a0and Dada, among the oth\u00ader unlike\u00adly jux\u00adta\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtions he engi\u00adneered, he showed him\u00adself to be the pre\u00admier prankster of ear\u00adly twen\u00adti\u00adeth-cen\u00adtu\u00adry art \u2014 and one whose pranks tran\u00adscend\u00aded amuse\u00adment to inspire a schol\u00adar\u00adly indus\u00adtry that per\u00adsists even today.<\/p>\n Relat\u00aded con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n What Makes the Mona Lisa a Great Paint\u00ading: A Deep Dive<\/a><\/p>\n How Did the Mona Lisa Become the World\u2019s Most Famous Paint\u00ading?: It\u2019s Not What You Think<\/a><\/p>\n The Mar\u00adcel Duchamp Research Por\u00adtal Opens, Mak\u00ading Avail\u00adable 18,000 Doc\u00adu\u00adments and 50,000 Images Relat\u00aded to the Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary Artist<\/a><\/p>\n How Mar\u00adcel Duchamp Signed a Uri\u00adnal in 1917 & Rede\u00adfined Art<\/a><\/p>\n When Bri\u00adan Eno & Oth\u00ader Artists Peed in Mar\u00adcel Duchamp\u2019s Famous Uri\u00adnal<\/a><\/p>\n Sal\u00advador Dal\u00ed Reveals the Secrets of His Trade\u00admark Mous\u00adtache (1954)<\/a><\/p>\n Based in Seoul, Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. His projects include the Sub\u00adstack newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0and the book\u00a0The State\u00adless City: a Walk through 21st-Cen\u00adtu\u00adry Los Ange\u00adles.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t