X.J. Kennedy and Marcel Duchamp: Rebels in Art and Poetry

A study on the connection between the works of two influential artists.

Toe after toe, a snowing flesh,

a gold of lemon, root and rind,

she sifts in sunlight down the stairs

with nothing on. Nor on her mind.

We spy beneath the banister

a constant thresh of thigh on thigh;

her lips imprint the swinging air

that parts to let her parts go by.

One-woman waterfall, she wears

her slow descent like a long cape

and pausing on the final stair,

collects her motions into shape.

- X.J. Kennedy

Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2,

Marcel Duchamp (1912)

In the beginning of the 20th century, two European artists, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque invented what is considered to be a new language of art. Cubism allowed artists to comment on modern life, which was, at the time, turning violently to WWI by the process Picasso described as, “exploding” the subject and painting its pieces together in a unified composition (Stokstad). One artist who experimented with this new style was Marcel Duchamp. His Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 became one of the most controversial works of its time. Its abstract shapes with a subdued neutral palette of browns and blacks is characteristic of early cubist work and had been repeatedly displayed in Cubist art exhibitions. It was, however widely discredited as an authentic cubist work by other cubist artists as part of their avant-garde movement.

Twenty overlapping figures created a sense of speed and movement that they identified not as Cubism but as Futuristic art. It was rejected by Duchamp's two brothers and the rest of the hanging committee of the Salon des Indépendants exhibition in Paris. They reasoned, “A nude never descends the stairs--a nude reclines” (Puchko). Duchamp was also disregarded in the world of Cubism because he paired an arousing explicit title with a baffling image. It became more famous than all of Duchamp’s other works and even Duchamp himself. Duchamp confirmed this toward the end of his life, “the painting was known, but I wasn’t” (Keats). His technique of creating arousing interest in what cannot be seen distracted the viewers to a point that they didn’t note the artist. The caption-like, painted-on title was also considered too comical and inappropriate for a piece of real art.

In 1915, Duchamp fled from the war to the U.S. with his masterpiece. He was among the Europeans who showed at the Armory Show in NYC on February 17th. The Americans who were used to the paintings of cowboys and indians hanging in their galleries were shocked by the surreal pieces in this show (Puchko). Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase,” stood out among the rest because it was quite unorthodox as a painting, as well as a particular “Cubist” painting. It was also seen as un-American as it was a threat to their religious faith. Americans had seen nudes before but as long as they were of spent-looking, realistic, lounging women, they weren’t taboo.

In his ekphrastic poem above, X.J. Kennedy exemplifies the scandalousness of Duchamp’s piece in his poem titled Nude Descending a Staircase. He refers to her physicality throughout the poem with the male gaze typically used in copious historical artworks. He starts off describing her as a lemon tree in the first stanza,

“Toe after toe, a snowing flesh,/ a gold of lemon, root and rind.”

Here, the roots of the tree are personified as her toes and her fair snowing flesh, the rind of a lemon. This could be an allusion to the forbidden fruit in the story of Adam and Eve and hence adds to the scandalous theme of the poem and artwork. In this poem, the fruit is the part of or all of the woman that is forbidden as well, as she’s masked by her cubist form, in a depiction of a woman’s figure that viewers had trouble relating to. Kennedy could also be referring to her as a pure virgin, in the way he describes her flesh as “snowing flesh,” as if to say that her flesh is as pure and untouched as freshly fallen snow. This is followed by the closing of the first stanza, where she’s said to have nothing on, “Nor on her mind.” This is a fortunate viewing for the predatory male gaze, in the fact that she is naked and has nothing on her mind. She has no concern with the eyes that follow her down the staircase from underneath the banister because of her virginity and innocence.

In 1912, women were subservient to men. The painting doesn’t clearly distinguish the gender of the nude and is therefore genderless. However, Kennedy labels the figure as a woman. He does so directly, and by suggesting that there’s a strong male gaze attracted to the painting. This idea is conveyed as she is watched by those “beneath the banister,” and is relaxed in her nudity, giving way to the state of gender roles at the time this painting was created.

Duchamp probably considered portraying the figure as a woman, which is a common theme in art history. He didn’t specifically do that though, which leaves us to wonder what he supposed the gender was, or if it mattered to him at all. This representation of a figure is also a reflection of the industrialized materialist world of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in its mechanical motion in shards of color, like shards of factory metal or glass. The material could also be imagined as wood, which would give further meaning to my inference that Kennedy referred to the figure as a lemon tree with spiritual and sexual intentions. If the pieces in the painting were meant to look like pieces of wood, that could be a biblical reference to crucifixion.

Many of Kennedy’s works are concerned with religious characters that question church authority (Morris 106). He must have related to Duchamp in this way, as Duchamp was rebellious in the art world. Following the Nude Descending a Staircase No.2, Duchamp went on to be one of the most controversial artists of his time with his remarkable readymades. These works were composed of ordinary every-day objects that Duchamp altered in a way that he felt gave them new life and meaning (Keats). In Kennedy’s poem, he gracefully describes the continuous, rebellious, “Futuristic” motion that Duchamp attempted to convey in his rough, almost crass representation, Nude Descending a Staircase No.2, while disregarding the sharp edges and precarious angles of the subject. The motion’s stopping point is then conveyed in line 4 in the short pause between “nothing on” and “Nor on her mind.” This is accomplished with a short stop with a period instead of a comma, and accentuates the brisk, worry-free poise of the woman.

X.J. Kennedy was born in Dover, New Jersey, 1929. Irritated by having the name of Joseph Kennedy, he added an X to the beginning of his name. Kennedy started his professional career with the publishment of his science fiction magazine Terrifying Test-Tube Tales, at the age of twelve. After four years in the navy serving aboard destroyers as an enlisted journalist and almost completing his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, his teaching and writing career took off. He taught English at Michigan, the Women’s College of the University of North Carolina, Tufts, Wellesley, The University of California Irvine, and the University of Leeds. He then became a freelance writer and has written numerous pieces for all ages, including children’s poetry books, novels, textbooks.

In 1961, Kennedy published his first collection of poetry, Nude Descending a Staircase, which won the Lamount Award of the Academy of American Poets. He is a well known poet and a man of many prestigious awards. By reading his poems, one can tell he has a fervent passion for meter and a unique gaiety which comes close to the edge of absurdity. He once said, “I write for three separate audiences: children, college students (who use textbooks), and that small band of people who still read poetry." A man of such a passion and playfulness is fit for these audiences. He is a master of meter and nonsensical verse, as well as serious poetry of loss and loneliness. His poems, including Nude Descending a Staircase are all on the short side. He writes with only the most necessary words and he treats all his works with an equal professional seriousness...even his silly children’s poems (Poetry Foundation).

X.J. Kennedy and Marcel Duchamp are known as unique individuals. They were rebels of two types of art that made significant marks in history. While Duchamp created with previously unimaginable styles such as with the Cubist yet Futuristic Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 and with bizarre readymades, Kennedy explored the edge of absurdity and silliness while obtaining a sense of seriousness in poetry. Kennedy’s choice to write an ekphrastic poem based on Duchamp’s nude allows the viewer to understand a version of what the confusing depicted situation could be.