Art is a powerful tool to make us enjoy, dream, expand our mind… It is also an instrument of communication, not only between the work of art and us, but also to debate and give opinions. For this reason, we present to you a work in which controversy is served: «The Fountain» by Marcel Ducham. And, as you know, at we always want to awaken your curiosity, as we already did with the article «The most curious thing about Degas«. Now it is the turn of the always controversial Marcel Duchamp and one of the most radical leftovers that our history has seen.
Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain
A male urinal which was presented as is, but when turned 45º and put a qualification and signed by a certain R. Mutt, it became a work of art: “The Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp called this type of work «Readymade» (found object, already made).
He considered that any object taken out of context and with some small intervention could be considered a artwork.
The “Society of Independent Artists”of which Duchamp and Arensberg were part, had emerged to give a voice to radical New York creators. I wanted to organize exhibitions without excluding to nobody, without jury, without committee of selection and without give awards. By just paying 6 dollars anyone could exhibit. More than 2000 works were presented, it was the year 1917.
Duchamp exhibited a urinal signed by a certain R. Mutt whom no one knew. The work appears to have not been exhibited (it was behind a wall during the entire exhibition) and did not even appear in the catalog because it is considered a work of bad taste. Duchamp and Arensberg presented their resignation, showing solidarity with this Mutt. Arensberg, who knew Duchamp’s joke from the beginning, played along and offered to buy the ‘Fountain’, taking it from the middle of the room in front of all the visitors, according to historian Estrella de Diego. The last time the piece was seen was at Gallery 291, where gallerist Alfred Stieglitz would give it a visit. photo that would travel the world. Thanks to this photo we know the Source, and Arensberg lost the original!
In 1950 Duchamp acknowledged the authorship and reproduced nothing less than 17 replicastoday distributed in the best museums in the world, like the Pompidou Museum in Paris. In it 2004 was elected as the most influential work of art the entire 20th century.
A urinal that becomes a work of art of such fame and magnitude… With it, Duchamp wanted to raise awareness, shake up the constricted art world and change the concept of art.
Today practically all experts in the field agree that it is one of the most radical works that have been done throughout the History of Art and one of the keys to understand the Art of the 20th century.
What do you think?
Other famous Duchamp Ready-mades
Below we present a list of other Duchamp ready-mades:
- «Bicycle Wheel» (1913)
- «The Great Glass» (Tate Gallery, London, 1915)
- “Peigne” (1916)
- “A Bruit Secret” (1916)
- “Travel sculpture” (1916)
- «Bottle holder»
- «Pulled at 4 Pins» (1915)
Other radical works within the History of Art
- “The Origin of the World” by Gustave Courbet
- “The Ladies of Aviñó” by Pablo Picasso
- “The Great Masturbator” Dali
- “Artist’s Shit” by Piero Manzoni, 1961
- “Bodies” by Roy Clover
If you liked this article, don’t miss: «Learn more about Giacometti«