Playing With Earth and Sky: Astronomy, Geography, and the Art of Marcel Duchamp (Dartmouth College Press, 2016) by James Housefield. Housefield, associate professor in the Department of Design, examines the the influences of astronomy, geography and aviation on artist Marcel Duchamp. One of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp transformed modern art by abandoning unique art objects. In the book, Housefield offers new interpretations of Duchamp’s work showing how environments of popular science, from museums to the modern planetarium, prepared paths for Duchamp’s art.
James Housefield is an associate professor of design history, theory, and criticism, whose research and teaching analyze art and design since the late eighteenth century. He is completing a monograph on the interaction of modern art, design, and science, tentatively titled, Playing with Earth and Sky: Popular Sciences of Astronomy & Geography and the Work of Marcel Duchamp.
Housefield’s research focuses on the interaction of art and design with each other and with the cultures of literature and science, particularly astronomy and geography. He is especially interested in the histories of exhibition design and modern cultures of immersive experience. He has contributed to several exhibition catalogues, and his scholarly writing on Duchamp, art and geography, and related topics has appeared in The Geographical Review, Journal of North African Studies, Cultural Geographies, and multiple edited volumes. His past research has focused on trans-Atlantic modernisms and the French cultures of art and design, including the francophone cultures of the colonial and post-colonial world. His current research emphasizes the heritage of nineteenth-century ideas on modernism, especially considering the impact of the Symbolist movement on aesthetics, book design, and the creation of immersive experiences.
Housefield has taught courses integrating the history of art and design history since 2000. He was formerly a curator at the Austin Museum of Art, and associate professor of the history of art and design at Texas State University, where he held the title of the National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities.
View the book at the University of Chicago Press