Transformativeness - L.H.O.O.Q.

L.H.O.O.Q.

Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q., a parody of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, and also known as the Mona Lisa With a Moustache, is an example of a highly transformative work that accomplishes its transformative effect with what seems to be a minimum of added material. L.H.O.O.Q. has been described as the most famous derivative work in the world, perhaps because of its widespread use for pedagogic purposes.

Marcel Duchamp created the work by adding, among other things, a moustache, goatee, and the caption "L.H.O.O.Q." (meaning “she has a hot tail”) to Leonardo’s iconic work. These few, seemingly insubstantial additions were highly transformative because they incensed contemporary French bourgeoisie, by mocking their cult of “Jocondisme,” at that time said to be “practically a secular religion of the French bourgeoisie and an important part of their self image.” Duchamp’s defacement of their icon was considered “a major stroke of epater le bourgeois." Thus, it has been said that the “transformation of a cult icon into an object of ridicule by adding a small quantum of additional material can readily be deemed preparation of a derivative work.”

A parodic derivative work based on Duchamp's parodic derivative work is shown at this link to an animated gif. This kind of parodic work could not have existed before the development of modern technology.