The Heir and the Cowboy: Social Predisposition, Mediation and Artistic Profession in Marcel Duchamp and Jackson Pollock

Abstract

This article analyses the social conditions that lead up to modes of entry into the field of art, as experienced by two of the most representative artists of the first and second avant-garde: Marcel Duchamp and Jackson Pollock. Differences in the degree to which the two artists possessed social and cultural capital, born of their respective trajectories, influenced the mediating structure each employed. In contrast to Pollock, Duchamp did not have a profuse or organized network of intermediaries. He was able to convert capital he inherited into a distancing of himself from opportunities made easily available to him. Duchamp achieved a high degree of formal experimentation, opting not to expose his work to the demands of the field of modern art. Both artists embody ideal types, between which many avant-garde artists of the first half of the 20th century would fluctuate. While Duchamp was to be considered the great precursor of contemporary art, Pollock would occupy the place of prototypical avant-garde artist. © The Author(s) 2012.