Modern Literature & Culture Research Centre & Gallery

The Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre (MLC) has recently acquired an April 1952 copy of Life Magazine, featuring Winthrop Sargeant's article on Marcel Duchamp entitled "Dada's Daddy." The article was influential in establishing Duchamp as "the world's most eminent Dadaist" (p. 105).


The article opens with the words: "a rather strange assortment of people crowded into a small but elegant basement art gallery in Manhattan to view a rather strange assortment of painting and sculpture and to greet an equally strange artist" — of course, referring to Duchamp. The article is woven with historical information regarding the Dadaist movement, Sargeant's own insights into the relevance of Dadaism in contemporary art and culture, and quotations from his interview with Marcel Duchamp, whom he calls both the Dadaist movement's "spiritual leader" and "the perfect high-brow." Sargeant writes:

While Duchamp's Dadaist revolution caused little loss of life, it has actually affected much that has happened in the world of culture since it took place. But for it, probably nobody today would consider James Thurber's cartoons art; Gertrude Stein would never have taught Ernest Hemingway how to write crisp dialog, museums of modern art would lack a rationale for much of what they do, and nobody but a passionately dedicated plumber would have noted that you can get a certain amount of esthetic pleasure from the contemplation of a well-made gas pipe. (p. 105)

This edition of Life also includes a feature entitled "Eisenhower of Abilene: The Making of a Man is Traced in His Past," which outlines Dwight Eisenhower's historical and personal path to political success. This article is particularly notable because it was published one year prior to his election to the U.S. Presidency and openly explores his German Mennonite ancestral heritage.

As was typical in magazines such as Life, this edition is peppered with a diverse array of product advertisements aimed at middle-class readers, such as the General Electric Dishwasher ("for every man who needs a good excuse for 'getting out' of the dishes"), Kodak ("snapshots remember — when you forget"), and Budweiser Lager Beer ("the beer of your lifetime, too").

This copy will be helpful to students and scholars at the MLC who will be able to visually and physically explore the pages — and the lives represented in the pages — of Life in 1952.

To donate materials to the MLC Archives, please contact
archive@mlc.ryerson.ca or 416.979-5000 ext. 7668

Recent News

Payton Knox joins MLC

Payton Knox joins MLC

Payton is involved in providing grading support for the course ENG 240: Contours of Creativity.

MLC Annual Impact Report 2023 - 2024

MLC Annual Impact Report 2023 - 2024

The MLC Research Centre is proud to present a summary of its annual achievements.

Call for Papers for Routledge Book: Life Writing in a Pandemic

Call for Papers for Routledge Book: Life Writing in a ...

We welcome papers that engage with any aspect of life writing during the pandemic.

Julia Perus joins MLC

Julia Perus joins MLC

Julia is involved in exploring the modernist avantgarde, with a special focus on Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

MLC Themes

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

Amid the unprecedented social change of World War I, women renegotiated their identities by dramatically changing the way they engaged with the arts. But how did they do so? And how did everyday citizens engage with the war?

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

MLC Themes

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, considered by many to be the mother of Dada, was a daringly innovative poet and an early creator of junk sculpture. “The Baroness” was best known for her sexually charged, often controversial performances.

Modernism in the World

MLC Themes

Modernism in the World

Recent research has departed from the Euro-centric and national view of Modernism to include approaches and methods studying Modernism across national boundaries and across different art forms to include fashion, dance, performance, technology, and visual culture.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

MLC Themes

Lucy Maud Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery is perhaps Canada's most important literary export. She was prolific writer of over 500 short stories and poems, and twenty novels, including the beloved Anne of Green Gables.

Canadian Modernism

MLC Themes

Canadian Modernism

The works of numerous Canadian authors who lived during the modernist era may well constitute the most central and experimental articulation of Canadian modernism in prose, allowing authors to stage cross-cultural, controversial, and even conflicted identities.

Modernist Biography and Life Writing

MLC Themes

Modernist Biography and Life Writing

Life writing, including autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters and testimonials written or told by women and men whose political, literary or philosophical purposes are central to their lives, has become a standard tool for communication and the dissemination of information.