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Francis M. Naumann reveals his newest exhibition, a collection of more than 100 vagina inspired pieces, in the January 2010 issue of ARTnews magazine.   "The Visible Vagina" opens December 20 at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art in uptown New York, and December 14 at David Nolan in Chelsea, concluding March 13.  The exhibition includes works from Allyson Mitchell, Henri Maccheroni, and Gustav Courbet, among other talents.

The transition from an exhibit on Marcel Duchamp's preoccupation with chess to the vagina evidently isn't as far a stretch as you might think.  For Naumann it's a totally logical progression. In his words, "they are at opposite ends of the spectrum and, as it turns out, opposite ends of the body, but I see a connection, through Duchamp"

Naumann's inspiration for this exhibit began in 1969 when the Philadelphia Museum of Art installed Duchamp's Étant donnés. Naumann, realizing this inspired vision forty years later, is still captivated by the forethought and planning involved in Duchamp's works, especially his last major piece. As Naumann says "the most sophisticated chess player has a plan that his opponent hasn't figured out,  Étant donnés allows Duchamp to keep playing the art game even after he's dead".

From viewing a woman with her face hidden and legs spread 40 years ago, to co-authoring a book about Duchamp, to playing chess with Yoko Ono on her all white chess board, to walking through a cavernous vagina made of carpet and yarn... Naumann keeps us guessing.  It all leads back to Duchamp.  Pick up a copy of ARTnews to read more about the amazing connection between Duchamp, Vaginas, and Francis M. Naumann.  What will he think of (or reveal) next?

Along with Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis' fall exhibition, For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis invited visitors to watch and play live chess matches with Grand Masters from the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship, which takes place October 3-13 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.

Read more about Jennifer Shahade's analysis for the book at: http://jennifershahade.com/site/duchamp/

Naked Chess from jen on Vimeo.

Francis M. Naumann: One of the foremost experts on Duchamp and Dada; a selection of his books includes (with Hector Obalk) Affectionately Marcel: The Selected Correspondence of Marcel Duchamp; (with Rudolph Kuenzli) Marcel Duchamp: Artist of the Century; Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction; New York Dada, 1915-23.