The Theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911, and Marcel Duchamp's Subsequent Response: L.H.O.O.Q: Related?

 Here's something I would like to point out about Marcel Duchamp's, “L.H.O.O.Q., Mona Lisa with a Mustache,” the famous scribble of a mustache on a reproduction of the Mona Lisa, and also the Mona Lisa itself and its emergence from relative obscurity after the highly sensationalized thievery at the Louvre. In 1911, before the outbreak of World War I and at the height of the Futurist movement, there was a deep questioning of the origins and enforcement of the concept of aesthetics and aesthetic taste. The core idea was that museums and aesthetic ideas existed simply to reinforce the social order, and that the royal academies were tied to monarchy and elite groups—those who were the taste makers. Already a bit of rebellion had started to break out in France in the form of Impressionism, which was spreading also to England, but not quite to the same degree. It’s worthwhile to note that subversive ideas about artistic representation had also spread to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiel, and the poet Srecko Kosovel were producing “shock-wave” work. Sadly both, both Schiel and Kosovel would die very young in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.

In the case of the Mona Lisa, that modest canvas was safely ensconced in the Louvre in a wing dedicated to Renaissance painting, and there it was mildly respected but nothing special. But in 1911 something happened—the painting disappeared. It was stolen, and suddenly its disappearance created all kinds of scandal. Different people were accused of having stolen it, and in addition to that, people who were considered anarchists were also accused. So after two years of newspapers selling many, many special editions with sensationalized headlines tying the theft of the Mona Lisa to anarchist groups and people trying to make an anti-monarchy statement—let's say the Futurists, potentially, and especially anarchists (absolutely not monarchy, but anarchy)—it was recovered in 1913. It had been stolen by an Italian employee of the Louvre, who was caught when he tried to steal it.  So much for grand Anarchist hijinks or Futurist “performance art.” 

Theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911

Now, by 1919, Marcel Duchamp had already been doing his own subversive artwork—the so-called “readymades,” where he would, for example, mount a toilet on a stand and call it a fountain. And then he also had his famous Nude Descending a Staircase, which looked like stills from a motion picture film. His works were questioning the status quo in terms of art. During that time, I'm sure he got very tired of headline after headline: "Where's the Mona Lisa? Who stole it? They caught the thieves—who are they? Are they anarchists?" All that sensational information overload and publicity overload—I'm sure it made it so that every person in Paris saw a reproduced image of the Mona Lisa many times a week. Everyone in Paris knew it was a Leonardo da Vinci painting, and at that, a modest painting that had been pretty much ignored until its highly publicized theft in which the publicity quickly turned into spectacle - spectacle with a capital S ! 

Relentless and continuous sensational press coverage involved the public in the mystery of the disappearance of the Mona Lisa

So being so tired of the Spectacle of a Stolen Master, what a great opportunity to make a statement about not only elite types of paintings and priorities and hierarchies and aesthetics, but also to mark the incredible attention and sensationalism and the triggering as a hoi polloi ploy to boost buying newspapers that were focusing on that theft. 

By putting a mustache on a cheap postcard reproduction of the Mona Lisa, Duchamp was basically mocking not just the idea of aesthetics, but also all the sensationalized brouhaha around the theft of the piece—the newspaper headlines, the excitement, the melodrama. He's mocking the idea of essentially newspaper headlines and lowbrow entertainment regarding a theft from the Louvre.

Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q. response to the Mona Lisa in a Paris over-saturated with sensational journalism related to the theft and recovery of the Mona Lisa ("La Joconde"), and later, the trial of the accused thieves. 

Consequently, I think there are different dimensions to Marcel Duchamp's mustachioed Mona Lisa, and if we understand the context, it's even more enjoyable and fun to look at. The equivalent might be to put a mustache on something that's been promoted and promoted and promoted—an image that's come out over and over and over that we're supposed to consider high art and revere it. I can't really think of anything right now, but I'm sure it's out there.

Reflecting on Experiences with Crafts in Africa

 I'd like to tell you a little bit about my experience with art in Africa. The first time I went to Africa was to Kenya, and I had an opportunity to get deeply involved in Kenyan art and arts and crafts as an aspect of economic development initiatives, especially for women-owned enterprises. In addition, I went to several places where I was able to see the Maasai and participate in different activities. The main peoples, the Kikuyu and the Luhya, had distinct traditions and art. The Kikuyu have elaborate wedding ceremonies.  Each clan has its own animal totem, which can be, for example, the zebra. 

The first thing I noticed about the Maasai were the textiles that they use and the bright red plaid and checked woven cloth, called Shuka,  that they create.. The colors vary, but all are bold, and the stunning patterns are plaid.  There are different rituals and dances, and then the spears with the different animal pelts were really beautiful. Then I had a chance to actually look at some of the Maasai warrior masks that were for sale. I would say that they were probably tourist masks, not used in the rituals, but some of the dances really had to do with not just channeling spirits of ancestors, but also getting in tune with nature and channeling animal spirits such as zebras and giraffes and elephants and also different types of gazelles and also—not dingo, those are Australian—jackal, especially jackal. So each animal is considered to have different attributes. As a warrior culture, the lion is revered, and many of the masks and face decorations are visual allusions to lions. 

At the artisan market, the carvings that I encountered were wonderful. I ended up purchasing many different carvings of dogs that looked like they had different spots and different patterns. They're just so adorable. I love them. I ended up bringing home about 20 of them. I gave them as gifts and also came back with beads because I went to a women's business which had to do with handmade beads that were then painted, glazed, and made into different types of necklaces.

Soapstone painted dogs from Kenya

I brought back hundreds of those, and the idea was to start up a little business on eBay with my son because he wanted to do things to earn money. So I took photographs of them and put them on eBay and we sold them, and now I wish I hadn't sold any of them. I wish I still had them, but that's the hoarder in me. But it was very interesting to see how this type of unique handcrafted beadwork turned into a business for women, and the same thing could be said for the fabrics. I'm not sure what happened in the intervening years, how much was displaced by cheap imports, but at any rate, I really loved them.

Several years later I had the opportunity to go to Mozambique. In Mozambique, I didn't see as many masks or crafts, but I did have a chance to go out to the villages and see their different kinds of arts and crafts and the traditional mud huts. Those were really wonderful to see. I think that what we're seeing is kind of a slow displacement of handmade crafts because of the time involved, and the fact that sometimes it's easier for people to just purchase cheap Chinese imports rather than the locally produced things, especially if it's machine-made versus handmade. After visiting Chimoio, we spent time in Beira, a port town on the Indian Ocean where colonial Portuguese architecture abounded. 

The first time I went to South Africa, I was in Johannesburg. The second time was in Cape Town, and I spent a lot more time and had a chance to buy little masks that were intended for the tourist trade. So I really don't know how they related to masquerade, and I don't think they necessarily did—they're just attractive. But the ones used in masquerade and the different specific rituals designed to encourage the spirit of the ancestors to possess the person and then to tell the future were pretty interesting.

African mask purchased in Cape Town, South Africa

Oh, I want to go back to Mozambique for a moment and mention that when I was there, the life expectancy was like 32 due to malaria and land mines and other problematic residual devastation from years of war. And somehow the idea of witch doctors having an amazing amount of power was a reality, as was the idea of divination—divination using seashells and also divination using bones. So there is definitely artwork in conjunction with this sort of divination. It is not anything that I explored because frankly, I'm a little bit afraid of that. So there you have it.

And when I read about the arts and artwork and also the past civilizations, the Great Zimbabwe—by the way, when I was in Mozambique, I was in Chimoio, which is the capital of the Manica province on the border with Zimbabwe. Anyway, the people that I stayed with were from Zimbabwe and they told me a little bit about Zimbabwe as it was in the early 2000s...