Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Milton Glaser + Marcel Duchamp = Bob Dylan
Did you know that Milton Glaser’s iconic poster of Bob Dylan (1966, shown on right) was influenced by one of Marcel Duchamp’s self-portraits (1957, shown on left)? I had no idea, until I read this recent Smithsonian article. (My favorite part of the article is where Glaser discusses how he feels about the poster: he wishes that he could redo Bob Dylan’s hair, finding it “a little clumsy.”) Anyhow, I thought the article was fitting, given that last week Dylan turned 69 years old. You can compare the Duchamp and Dylan profiles below. Now tell me, who do you think has a more noble nose?
Duchamp looks like George Washington, which is sort-of by association pretty noble looking.
One of my professors used to teach a Rock n' Roll and Art class every few years. He would love that article!
I love Smithsonian articles. 🙂
Oh, and about the noses …
the nose on Dylan is such a classic nose used in Nazi (and lots of other groups, too) propaganda! A hook nose was definitely a symbol of untrusthworthiness.
It looks like Duchamp is winning the nobility comparison, partially based on default (that's interesting about hooknoses and Nazi propaganda, e!). And Duchamp's profile is reminiscent of George Washington! Ha! Good all, Rebekah. Let's just hope that Duchamp had better teeth than Washington.