Mentors

Francis M. Naumann is an independent scholar, curator, and art dealer, specializing in the art of the Dada and Surrealist periods. He is author of numerous articles and exhibition catalogues, including New York Dada 1915–25 (Harry N. Abrams, 1994), considered to be the definitive history of the movement, and Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Harry N. Abrams, 1999), Wallace Putnam (Harry N. Abrams, 2002) and Conversion to Modernism: The Early Work of Man Ray (Rutgers University Press, 2002). In 1996, he organized "Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York" for the Whitney Museum of American Art; in 1997, "Beatrice Wood: A Centennial Tribute" for the American Craft Museum in New York; and, in 2003, he co-curated "Conversion to Modernism: The Early Work of Man Ray" for the Montclair Art Museum. His most recent book is The Recurrent, Haunting Ghost: Essays on the Art, Life and Legacy of Marcel Duchamp (Readymade Press, 2012). He currently owns and operates a gallery in New York City, which specializes in art from the Dada and Surrealist periods, as well as work by contemporary artists who possess related aesthetic sensibilities.

An odd but consistently engaging text about academic mentorship, about art, about art history, about writing, about ageing, about illness, about artists and about being successful and self-confident in New York in the second half of the twentieth century. It’s an unexpected pleasure. […] This is undeniably an enjoyable book, full of humour and personality and a real sense of all the various people who mean a lot to Naumann. It’s an easy, warm, unpatronising read and – entering it with no pre-conceptions at all – thoroughly enjoyable!— Scott Manley Hadley, Triumph of the Now

• I. Back Story II. Leo Steinberg III. John Rewald IV. Leo and Bill / Leo and John V. Beatrice Wood VI. 1987 VII. Hannah and John VIII. Arrivals and Departures IX. Significant Others X. Nature vs. Nurture Notes