... a direction he wanted to take, rather than approach it as Marcel Duchamp, he would stick his toe in the water under a pseudonym and an alternative personality, possibly as contrived as the pseudonym, to gauge the reaction to his creations, thereby creating an unconscious barrier of mental protection against the effects of a possible failure and also an insurance policy against the detrimental effects of adverse publicity on his standing in the art and social world. Only when the piece had received acclaim did Duchamp reveal himself as the artist. One wonders if there have been a great number of pieces created by Duchamp, slated by the critics of the time, that were never acknowledged by Duchamp as having emanated from him. The possibility of failure would have been a great fear to him but he would already have ensured his separation from this chance by the anonymity of the author ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now