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''Fountain'' is a readymade sculpture by
Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
in 1917, consisting of a
porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
urinal A urinal (, ) is a sanitary plumbing fixture for urination only. Urinals are often provided in public toilets for male users in Western countries (less so in Muslim countries). They are usually used in a standing position. Urinals can be with ...
signed "R. Mutt". In April 1917, an ordinary piece of plumbing chosen by Duchamp was submitted for an exhibition of the
Society of Independent Artists Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York. Background Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-gard ...
, the inaugural exhibition by the Society to be staged at The
Grand Central Palace The Grand Central Palace was an exhibition hall in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The name refers to two structures, both located on Lexington Avenue near Grand Central Terminal. The original structure was a six-story structure built in 1893 ...
in New York. When explaining the purpose of his readymade sculpture, Duchamp stated they are "everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice." In Duchamp's presentation, the urinal's orientation was altered from its usual positioning.Gavin Parkinson, ''The Duchamp Book: Tate Essential Artists Series''
Harry N. Abrams, 2008, p. 61,
Dalia Judovitz, ''Unpacking Duchamp: Art in Transit''
University of California Press, 1998, pp. 124, 133,
''Fountain'' was not rejected by the committee, since Society rules stated that all works would be accepted from artists who paid the fee, but the work was never placed in the show area.Cabanne, P., & Duchamp, M. (1971). ''Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp''
Following that removal, ''Fountain'' was photographed at
Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...
's studio, and the photo published in the
Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
journal ''
The Blind Man ''The Blind Man'' was an art and Dada journal published briefly by the New York Dadaists in 1917. History Henri-Pierre Roché and Marcel Duchamp, visiting from France, organized the magazine with Beatrice Wood in New York City. Mina Loy also c ...
''. The original has been lost. The work is regarded by art historians and theorists of the avant-garde as a major landmark in
20th-century art Twentieth-century art—and what it became as modern art—began with modernism in the late nineteenth century. Overview Nineteenth-century movements of Post-Impressionism ( Les Nabis), Art Nouveau and Symbolism led to the first twentieth-century ...
. Sixteen replicas were commissioned from Duchamp in the 1950s and 1960s and made to his approval. Some have suggested that the original work was by the female artist
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven Elsa Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven (née Else Hildegard Plötz; (12 July 1874 – 14 December 1927) was a German-born avant-garde visual artist and poet, who was active in Greenwich Village, New York, from 1913 to 1923, where her radical self ...
who had submitted it to Duchamp as a friend, but art historians maintain that Duchamp was solely responsible for ''Fountains presentation. ''Fountain'' is included in the Marcel Duchamp
catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...
by
Arturo Schwarz Arturo Umberto Samuele Schwarz (2 February 1924 – 23 June 2021) was an Italian scholar, art historian, poet, writer, lecturer, art consultant and curator of international art exhibitions. He lived in Milan, where he amassed a large collection o ...
; ''The complete works of Marcel Duchamp'' (number 345).


Origin

Marcel Duchamp arrived in the United States less than two years prior to the creation of ''Fountain'' and had become involved with
Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism ...
,
Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...
, and
Beatrice Wood Beatrice Wood (March 3, 1893 – March 12, 1998) was an American artist and studio potter involved in the Avant Garde movement in the United States; she founded and edited ''The Blind Man'' and ''Rongwrong'' magazines in New York City with Frenc ...
(amongst others) in the creation of an anti-rational,
anti-art Anti-art is a loosely used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Somewhat paradoxically, anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage poi ...
, proto-
Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
cultural movement in New York City. In early 1917, rumors spread that Duchamp was working on a Cubist painting titled ''
Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating ''Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating'' (also referred to as ''Tulip Hysteria Coordinating'') is a fictitious work of art by Marcel Duchamp. Early 1917, rumor spread that Duchamp was working on a Cubist painting titled ''Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating'' ...
'', in preparation for the largest exhibition of modern art ever to take place in the United States.''Catalogue of the First Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists''
/ref> When ''Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating'' did not appear at the show, those who had expected to see it were disappointed.Sue Roe, ''In Montparnasse: The Emergence of Surrealism in Paris, from Duchamp to Dali''
Penguin UK, Jun 21, 2018,
But the painting likely never existed. According to one version, the creation of ''Fountain'' began when, accompanied by artist
Joseph Stella Joseph Stella (born Giuseppe Michele Stella, June 13, 1877 – November 5, 1946) was an Italian-born American Futurist painter best known for his depictions of industrial America, especially his images of the Brooklyn Bridge. He is also as ...
and art collector
Walter Arensberg Walter Conrad Arensberg (April 4, 1878 – January 29, 1954) was an American art collector, critic and poet. His father was part owner and president of a crucible steel company. He majored in English and philosophy at Harvard University. With his w ...
, Duchamp purchased a standard Bedfordshire model urinal from the
J. L. Mott Iron Works The J. L. Mott Iron Works was an American hardware dealer and manufacturer during the late 19th century. It operated in New York and was relocated to Trenton, New Jersey, where it ceased operations in the 1920s. History The J. L. Mott Iron Work ...
, 118 Fifth Avenue. The artist brought the urinal to his studio at 33 West 67th Street, reoriented it 90 degrees from its originally intended position of use,Adcock, Craig. ''Duchamp's Eroticism: A Mathematical Analysis''
Dada/Surrealism 16 (1987): 149–167, Iowa Research Online,
and wrote on it, "R. Mutt 1917". Duchamp elaborated:
Mutt comes from Mott Works, the name of a large sanitary equipment manufacturer. But Mott was too close so I altered it to Mutt, after the daily cartoon strip "Mutt and Jeff" which appeared at the time, and with which everyone was familiar. Thus, from the start, there was an interplay of Mutt: a fat little funny man, and Jeff: a tall thin man... I wanted any old name. And I added Richard rench slang for money-bags That's not a bad name for a ''pissotière''. Get it? The opposite of poverty. But not even that much, just R. MUTT.
At the time Duchamp was a board member of the Society of Independent Artists. After much debate by the board members (most of whom did not know Duchamp had submitted it, as he had submitted the work 'under a pseudonym') about whether the piece was or was not art, ''Fountain'' was hidden from view during the show. Duchamp resigned from the Board, and "withdrew" ''Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating'' in protest. For this reason the work was "suppressed" (Duchamp's expression).
No, not rejected. A work can’t be rejected by the Independents. It was simply suppressed. I was on the jury, but I wasn’t consulted, because the officials didn't know that it was I who had sent it in; I had written the name "Mutt" on it to avoid connection with the personal. The "Fountain" was simply placed behind a partition and, for the duration of the exhibition, I didn’t know where it was. I couldn't say that I had sent the thing, but I think the organizers knew it through gossip. No one dared mention it. I had a falling out with them, and retired from the organization. After the exhibition, we found the "Fountain" again, behind a partition, and I retrieved it! (Marcel Duchamp, 1971)
The New York Dadaists stirred controversy about ''Fountain'' and its being rejected in the second issue of ''
The Blind Man ''The Blind Man'' was an art and Dada journal published briefly by the New York Dadaists in 1917. History Henri-Pierre Roché and Marcel Duchamp, visiting from France, organized the magazine with Beatrice Wood in New York City. Mina Loy also c ...
'' which included a photo of the piece and a letter by
Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...
, and writings by Louise Norton,
Beatrice Wood Beatrice Wood (March 3, 1893 – March 12, 1998) was an American artist and studio potter involved in the Avant Garde movement in the United States; she founded and edited ''The Blind Man'' and ''Rongwrong'' magazines in New York City with Frenc ...
and Arensberg.''The Blind Man''
Vol. 2, 1917, p. 5.
An editorial, possibly written by Wood, accompanying the photograph, entitled "The Richard Mutt Case", made a claim that would prove to be important concerning certain works of art that would come after it: In defense of the work being art, the piece continues, "The only works of art America has given are her plumbing and her bridges." Duchamp described his intent with the piece was to shift the focus of art from physical craft to intellectual interpretation. In a letter dated 23 April 1917, Stieglitz wrote of the photograph he took of ''Fountain'': "The "Urinal" photograph is really quite a wonder—Everyone who has seen it thinks it beautiful—And it's true—it is. It has an oriental look about it—a cross between a Buddha and a Veiled Woman." In 1918, ''
Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published f ...
'' published an article attributed to
Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...
stating ''Fountain'', originally titled "le Bouddha de la salle de bain" (Buddha of the bathroom), represented a sitting Buddha.Guillaume Apollinaire, ''Le Cas de Richard Mutt'', ''Mercure de France'', 16 June 1918
Gallica, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
The motive invoked for its refusal at the Independents were that the entry was (1) immoral and vulgar, (2) it was plagiarism, a commercial piece of plumbing. R. Mutt responded, according to Apollinaire, that the work was not immoral since similar pieces could be seen every day exposed in plumbing and bath supply stores. On the second point, R. Mutt pointed out that the fact ''Fountain'' was not made by the hand of the artist was unimportant. The importance was in the choice made by the artist. The artist chose an object of every-day life, erased its usual significance by giving it a new title, and from this point of view, gave a new purely esthetic meaning to the object. Menno Hubregtse argues that Duchamp may have chosen ''Fountain'' as a readymade because it parodied Robert J. Coady's exaltation of industrial machines as pure forms of American art. Coady, who championed his call for American art in his publication ''The Soil'', printed a scathing review of
Jean Crotti Jean Crotti (24 April 1878 – 30 January 1958) was a French painter. Crotti was born in Bulle, Fribourg, Switzerland. He first studied in Munich, Germany at the School of Decorative Arts, then at age 23 moved to Paris to study art at the ...
's ''Portrait of Marcel Duchamp (Sculpture Made to Measure)'' in the December 1916 issue. Hubregtse notes that Duchamp's urinal may have been a clever response to Coady's comparison of Crotti's sculpture with "the absolute expression of a—plumber." Some have contested that Duchamp created ''Fountain'', but rather assisted in submitting the piece to the Society of Independent Artists for a female friend. In a letter dated 11 April 1917 Duchamp wrote to his sister Suzanne: "Une de mes amies sous un pseudonyme masculin, Richard Mutt, avait envoyé une pissotière en porcelaine comme sculpture" ("One of my female friends under a masculine pseudonym, Richard Mutt, sent in a porcelain urinal as a sculpture.")Marcel Duchamp to Suzanne, 11 April 1917
Jean Crotti papers, 1913–1973, bulk 1913–1961.
Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
, Smithsonian Institution
Marcel Duchamp, ''Affectionately, Marcel: The Selected Correspondence of Marcel Duchamp'', ed. Francis M. Naumann and Hector Obalk (Ghent: Ludion Press, 2000), p. 47 Duchamp never identified his female friend, but three candidates have been proposed: an early appearance of Duchamp's female alter ego
Rrose Sélavy Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
; the Dadaist
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven Elsa Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven (née Else Hildegard Plötz; (12 July 1874 – 14 December 1927) was a German-born avant-garde visual artist and poet, who was active in Greenwich Village, New York, from 1913 to 1923, where her radical self ...
; or Louise Norton (a Dada poet and a close friend of Duchamp, later married to the avant-garde French composer
Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coined ...
),David M. Lubin, ''Grand Illusions: American Art and the First World War''
Oxford University Press, 2016,
who contributed an essay to ''The Blind Man'' discussing ''Fountain'', and whose address is partially discernible on the paper entry ticket in the Stieglitz photograph. On one hand, the fact that Duchamp wrote 'sent' not 'made', does not indicate that someone else created the work. Furthermore, there is no documentary or testimonial evidence that suggests von Freytag created ''Fountain''. Shortly after its initial exhibition, ''Fountain'' was lost. According to Duchamp biographer
Calvin Tomkins Calvin Tomkins (born 17 December 1925) is an author and art critic for ''The New Yorker'' magazine. Life and career Tomkins was born in Orange, New Jersey. After graduating from Berkshire School, he attended Princeton University and received an un ...
, the best guess is that it was thrown out as rubbish by Stieglitz, a common fate of Duchamp's early readymades.Quoted in However, the myth goes that the original ''Fountain'' was in fact not thrown out but returned to Richard Mutt by Duchamp. The reaction engendered by ''Fountain'' continued for weeks following the exhibition submission. An article was published in Boston on 25 April 1917: Duchamp began making miniature reproductions of ''Fountain'' in 1935, first in
papier-mâché upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...
and then in porcelain, for his multiple editions of a miniature museum 'retrospective' titled '' Boîte-en-valise'' or 'box in a suitcase', 1935–66. Duchamp carried many of these miniature works within ''The Suitcase'' which were replicas of some of his most prominent work. The first 1:1 reproduction of ''Fountain'' was authorized by Duchamp in 1950 for an exhibition in New York; two more individual pieces followed in 1953 and 1963, and then an artist's multiple was manufactured in an edition of eight in 1964. These editions ended up in a number of important public collections;
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...
Art Museum,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
, the
National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
,
Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
and
Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...
. The edition of eight was manufactured from glazed earthenware painted to resemble the original porcelain, with a signature, reproduced in black paint.


Interpretations

Of all the artworks in this series of readymades, ''Fountain'' is perhaps the best known because the symbolic meaning of the toilet takes the conceptual challenge posed by the readymades to their most visceral extreme. Similarly, philosopher
Stephen Hicks Stephen Ronald Craig Hicks (born August 19, 1960) is a Canadian-American philosopher. He teaches at Rockford University, where he also directs the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. Career Hicks earned his Bachelor of Arts (Honours, 19 ...
argued that Duchamp, who was quite familiar with the history of European art, was obviously making a provocative statement with ''Fountain'': :The artist is a not great creator—Duchamp went shopping at a plumbing store. The artwork is not a special object—it was mass-produced in a factory. The experience of art is not exciting and ennobling—at best it is puzzling and mostly leaves one with a sense of distaste. But over and above that, Duchamp did not select just any ready-made object to display. In selecting the urinal, his message was clear: Art is something you piss on. The impact of Duchamp's ''Fountain'' changed the way people view art due to his focus upon "cerebral art" contrary to merely "retinal art", as this was a means to engage prospective audiences in a thought-provoking way as opposed to satisfying the aesthetic status quo "turning from classicism to modernity". Since the photograph taken by Stieglitz is the only image of the original sculpture, there are some interpretations of ''Fountain'' by looking not only at reproductions but this particular photograph. Tomkins notes: :"Arensberg had referred to a 'lovely form' and it does not take much stretching of the imagination to see in the upside-down urinal's gently flowing curves the veiled head of a classic Renaissance Madonna or a seated Buddha or, perhaps more to the point, one of Brâncuși's polished erotic forms." Expanding upon the erotic interpretation linked to Brancusi's work, Tim Martin has argued there were strong sexual connotations with the ''Fountain'', linked to it being placed horizontally. He goes onto say: :"In placing the urinal horizontally it appears more passive, and feminine, while remaining a receptacle designed for the functioning of the male penis." The meaning (if any) and intention of both the piece and the signature "R. Mutt", are difficult to pin down precisely. It is not clear whether Duchamp had in mind the German "''Armut''" (meaning "
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
"), or possibly "''Urmutter''" (meaning “great mother”). The name R. Mutt could also be a play on its commercial origins or on the famous comic strip of the time, ''
Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newsp ...
'' (making the urinal perhaps the first work of art based on a comic). Duchamp said the R stood for Richard, French slang for "
moneybags A money bag (or money sack) is a bag normally used to hold and transport coins and banknotes, often closed with a drawstring.scatological In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of feces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and diseases su ...
golden calf According to the Bible, the golden calf (עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב '' ‘ēgel hazzāhāv'') was an idol (a cult image) made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as ''ḥēṭə’ hā‘ēgel'' ...
. Rhonda Roland Shearer in the online journal ''Tout-Fait'' (2000) suspects that the Stieglitz photograph is a composite of different photos, while other scholars such as William Camfield have never been able to match the urinal shown in the photo to any urinals found in the catalogues of the time period. In a 1964 interview with Otto Hahn, Duchamp suggested he purposefully selected a urinal because it was disagreeable. The choice of a urinal, according to Duchamp, "sprang from the idea of making an experiment concerned with taste: choose the object which has the least chance of being liked. A urinal—very few people think there is anything wonderful about a urinal." Rudolf E. Kuenzli states, in ''Dada and Surrealist Film'' (1996), after describing how various readymades are presented or displayed: "This decontextualization of the object's functional place draws attention to the creation of its artistic meaning by the choice of the setting and positioning ascribed to the object." He goes on to explain the importance of naming the object (ascribing a title). At least three factors came into play: the choice of object, the title, and how it was modified, if at all, from its 'normal' position or location. By virtue of placing a urinal on a pedestal in an art exhibition, the illusion of an artwork was created. Duchamp drew an ink copy of the 1917 Stieglitz photograph in 1964 for the cover of an exhibition catalogue, ''Marcel Duchamp: Ready-mades, etc., 1913–1964''. The illustration appeared as a photographic negative. Later, Duchamp made a positive version, titled ''Mirrorical Return'' (''Renvoi miroirique''; 1964). Dalia Judovitz writes:
Structured as an emblem, the visual and linguistic elements set up a punning interplay that helps us to explore further the mechanisms that ''Fountain'' actively stages. On the one hand, there is the mirror-effect of the drawing and the etching, which although they are almost identical visually, involve an active switch from one artistic medium to the other. On the other hand, there is the internal mirrorical return of the image itself, since this urinal, like the one in 1917, has been rotated ninety degrees. This internal rotation disqualifies the object from its common use as a receptacle, and reactivates its poetic potential as a fountain; that is, as a machine for waterworks. The "splash" generated by ''Fountain'' is thus tied to its "mirrorical return," like the faucet in the title.
During the 1950s and 1960s, as ''Fountain'' and other readymades were rediscovered, Duchamp became a cultural icon in the world of art, exemplified by a "deluge of publications", as Camfield noted, "an unparalleled example of timing in which the burgeoning interest in Duchamp coincided with exhilarating developments in avant-garde art, virtually all of which exhibited links of some sort to Duchamp." His art was transformed from "a minor, aberrant phenomenon in the history of modern art to the most dynamic force in contemporary art."


Legacy

In December 2004, Duchamp's ''Fountain'' was voted the most influential artwork of the 20th century by 500 selected British art world professionals. Second place was afforded to Picasso's ''
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon ''Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'' (''The Young Ladies of Avignon'', originally titled ''The Brothel of Avignon'') is a large oil painting created in 1907 by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The work, part of the permanent collection of the Museum o ...
'' (1907) and third to
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
's ''
Marilyn Diptych The ''Marilyn Diptych'' ( 1962) is a silkscreen painting by American pop artist Andy Warhol depicting Marilyn Monroe. The monumental work is one of the artist's most noted of the movie star. The painting consists of 50 images. Each image of ...
'' (1962). ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' noted in a February 2008 article that with this single work, Duchamp invented
conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...
and "severed forever the traditional link between the artist's labour and the merit of the work".
Jerry Saltz Jerry Saltz (born February 19, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American art critic. Since 2006, he has been senior art critic and columnist for '' New York'' magazine. Formerly the senior art critic for ''The Village Voice'', he received the Pu ...
wrote in ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' in 2006: Others have questioned whether Duchamp's ''Fountain'' really could constitute a work of art.
Grayson Perry Grayson Perry (born 1960) is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster. He is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries, and cross-dressing, as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene, and for dissecting British "pre ...
stated in '' Playing to The Gallery'' in 2014: "When he decided that anything could be art he got a urinal and brought it into an art gallery... I find it quite arrogant, that idea of just pointing at something and saying 'That's art.'"


Interventions

Several performance artists have attempted to contribute to the piece by urinating in it. South African born artist
Kendell Geers Jacobus Hermanus Pieters Geers, commonly known as Kendell Geers, is a South African conceptual artist. Geers lives and works in Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text ...
rose to international notoriety in 1993 when, at a show in Venice, he urinated into ''Fountain''. Artist / musician
Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
declared he successfully urinated in ''Fountain'' while it was exhibited in the MoMA in 1993. He admitted that it was only a technical triumph because he needed to urinate in a tube in advance so he could convey the fluid through a gap between the protective glass. Swedish artist Björn Kjelltoft urinated in ''Fountain'' at
Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö in t ...
in Stockholm in 1999. In spring 2000,
Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi Cai Yuan and Jian Jun Xi are two Chinese-born artists, based in Britain, who work together under the name Mad For Real. They have enacted (unofficial) events at the Venice Biennale and the Turner Prize, where, in 1999, they jumped onto Tracey Emin ...
, two performance artists, who in 1999 had jumped on
Tracey Emin Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawi ...
's installation-sculpture ''
My Bed ''My Bed'' is a work by the English artist Tracey Emin. First created in 1998, it was exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1999 as one of the shortlisted works for the Turner Prize. It consisted of her bed with bedroom objects in a dishevelled stat ...
'' in the
Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...
exhibition at
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
, went to the newly opened Tate Modern and tried to urinate on the ''Fountain'' which was on display. However, they were prevented from soiling the sculpture directly by its
Perspex Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...
case. The Tate, which denied that the duo had succeeded in urinating into the sculpture itself, banned them from the premises stating that they were threatening "works of art and our staff." When asked why they felt they had to add to Duchamp's work, Chai said, "The urinal is there – it's an invitation. As Duchamp said himself, it's the artist's choice. He chooses what is art. We just added to it." On January 4, 2006, while on display in the Dada show in the
Pompidou Centre The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in Paris, ''Fountain'' was attacked by
Pierre Pinoncelli Pierre Pinoncelli (15 April 1929 – 9 October 2021) was a French performance artist, best known for damaging two of the eight copies of ''Fountain'' by Marcel Duchamp with a hammer, as a statement that the work had lost its provocative value. The ...
, a 76-year-old French performance artist, most noted for damaging two of the eight copies of ''Fountain''. The hammer he used during the assault on the artwork caused a slight chip. Pinoncelli, who was arrested, said the attack was a work of
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
that Marcel Duchamp himself would have appreciated. In 1993 Pinoncelli urinated into the piece while it was on display in Nimes, in southern France. Both of Pinoncelli's performances derive from
neo-Dada Neo-Dada was a movement with audio, visual and literary manifestations that had similarities in method or intent with earlier Dada artwork. It sought to close the gap between art and daily life, and was a combination of playfulness, iconoclasm, a ...
ists' and Viennese Actionists' intervention or manoeuvre.


Reinterpretations

Appropriation artist
Sherrie Levine Sherrie Levine (born 1947) is an American photographer, painter, and Conceptual art, conceptual artist. Some of her work consists of exact photographic reproductions of the work of other photographers such as Walker Evans, Eliot Porter and Edward ...
created bronze copies in 1991 and 1996 titled ''Fountain (Madonna)'' and ''Fountain (Buddha)'' respectively''.'' They are considered to be an "homage to Duchamp's renowned readymade. By doing so,
Levine Levine (French transliteration from Russian) / Levin (English transliteration from Russian Левин) is a common Jewish ( Ashkenazi Jewish) surname. Levinsky is a variation with the same meaning (see French version of the article for a full expl ...
is re-evaluating 3D objects within the realm of appropriation, like the readymades, to mass-produced photographic art. Adding to Duchamp's audacious move, Levine turns his gesture back into an "art object" by elevating its materiality and finish. As a feminist artist, Levine remakes works specifically by male artists who commandeered patriarchal dominance in art history."
John Baldessari John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Initially a painter, ...
created an edition of multicolored ceramic bed pans with the text: "The Artist is a Fountain", in 2002. In 2003 Saul Melman constructed a massively enlarged version, ''Johnny on the Spot'', for
Burning Man Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred ...
and subsequently burned it. In 2015
Mike Bidlo Michael Bidlo (born 20 October 1953) is an American conceptual artist who employs painting, sculpture, drawing, performance, and other forms of "social sculpture." Early life and education Bidlo was born in Chicago, Illinois and studied at the U ...
created a cracked "bronze redo" of ''Fountain'' titled ''Fractured Fountain (Not Duchamp Fountain 1917)'', which was exhibited at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art in 2016. "Bidlo's version is a lovingly handcrafted porcelain copy that he then smashed, reconstituted, and cast in bronze." Exactly 100 years to the day of the opening of the ''First Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists'', Francis M. Naumann Fine Art opened "Marcel Duchamp Fountain: An Homage" on April 10, 2017. The show included ''Urinal Cake'' by
Sophie Matisse Sophie Alexina Victoire Matisse (born February 13, 1965) is an American contemporary artist. Matisse initially gained notice for her series of ''Missing Person'' paintings, in which she appropriated and embellished upon, or subtracted from, reco ...
, Russian constructivist urinals by
Alexander Kosolapov Alexander Kosolapov (russian: Александр Семёнович Косолапов) (born January 1, 1943, in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian-American sculptor and painter. He immigrated to the United States in 1975 and has since lived and work ...
, and a 2015 work by
Ai Wei Wei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly cr ...
.


Afterword

From the 1950s, Duchamp's influence on American artists had grown exponentially.
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
magazine referred to him as "perhaps the world's most eminent Dadaist", Dada's "spiritual leader", "Dada's Daddy" in a lengthy article published 28 April 1952. By the mid-50s his readymades were present in permanent collections of American museums. In 1961, Duchamp wrote a letter to fellow Dadaist Hans Richter in which he supposedly said: Richter, however, years later claimed those words were not by Duchamp. Richter had sent Duchamp this paragraph for comment, writing: "You threw the bottle rack and the urinal into their face…," etc. Duchamp simply wrote: "Ok, ça va très bien" ("Ok, that works very well") in the margins. Contrary to Richter's quote, Duchamp wrote favorably of Pop art in 1964, though indifferent to the humor or materials of Pop artists:


Editions and provenance

Seventeen authorized versions of ''Fountain'' have been created, according to a list compiled by ''
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
'' magazine. Two of them, including the 1917 original, are lost. * 1917: Original version, lost. * 1950: Signed by Duchamp at the request of art dealer
Sidney Janis Sidney Janis (July 8, 1896 – November 23, 1989) was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York City, New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited work by the Abs ...
for a gallery exhibition. Donated to the
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...
in 1998. * 1953: "Selected for sale at auction to benefit a friend of Duchamp" in Paris. Location unknown. * 1963: Made by
Ulf Linde Ulf Harald Linde (15 April 1929 – 12 October 2013) was a Swedish art critic, writer, museum director and a member of the Swedish Academy. Born in Stockholm, he was elected to the Swedish Academy on 10 February 1977 and admitted on 20 December 197 ...
for an exhibition in Stockholm. Signed by Duchamp in 1964. Donated to
Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö in t ...
in 1965. * 1964: Galleria Schwarz edition ** Eight versions made for sale: *** 1/8: Bought by the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
in 1998. *** 2/8: Bought by
Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...
in London in 1999. *** 3/8: Bought by the
National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
in 1971. *** 4/8: Bought by an unnamed collector in 2002. *** 5/8: Bought by
Dimitris Daskalopoulos Dimitris Daskalopoulos ( el, Δημήτρης Δασκαλόπουλος; born 1957, Athens) is a Greek entrepreneur who is known as founder and chairman of DAMMA Holdings SA, a financial services and investment company. He served as the Chairman ...
in 1999 for $1.76 million, a record-high price at the time for a Duchamp work. *** 6/8: Bought by the
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto The is an art museum in Kyoto, Japan. This Kyoto museum is also known by the English acronym MoMAK (Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto). History The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (MoMAK) was initially created as the Annex Museum of the National ...
in 1987. *** 7/8: In the collection of
Musée Maillol The Musée Maillol is an art museum located in the 7th arrondissement at 59–61, rue de Grenelle, Paris, France. History In 1964, Dina Vierny donated Maillol's monumental sculptures to the state. André Malraux, Minister of Culture, installs t ...
in Paris. *** 8/8: Bought by
Indiana University Art Museum The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University opened in 1941 under the direction of Henry Radford Hope.Baden, Linda J. Indiana University Art Museum: Dedication. Bloomington, IN: Museum, 1982. Print. The museum was intended to be the center of ...
in 1971. ** Two artist's proofs: *** Duchamp's: Bought by the
Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. In 2021 it ranked 10th in ...
in Paris in 1986. *** Schwarz's: Bought by an unnamed collector in 2002 for $1.08 million. ** Two museum versions: *** I/II: Donated to the
Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
in Jerusalem in 1972. *** II/II: Donated to the
National Gallery of Modern Art National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
in Rome in 1997. ** Prototype version: Bought by
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
in 1973. Bought by
Dakis Joannou Dakis Joannou (Leonidas Ioannou; el, Δάκης Ιωάννου; born December 30, 1939) is a Greek Cypriot industrialist and art collector. He is considered to be one of the leading collectors of contemporary art in the world and is famous for ac ...
from Warhol's estate for $65,750 in 1988.Kamien-Kazhdan, ''Remaking the Readymade'', p. 274


See also

* Found object *'' Fountain Archive'' * ''God'' (sculpture) *
Art intervention Art intervention is an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience, venue/space or situation. It has the auspice of conceptual art and is commonly a form of performance art. It is associated with the Viennese Actionists, the Dada mov ...
*
Transgressive art Transgressive art is art that aims to outrage or violate basic morals and sensibilities. The term ''transgressive'' was first used in this sense by American filmmaker Nick Zedd and his Cinema of Transgression in 1985. Zedd used it to describe his ...
*''
Apolinère Enameled ''Apolinère Enameled'' was painted in 1916–17 by Marcel Duchamp, as a heavily altered version of an advertisement for paint ("Sapolin Enamel"). The picture depicts a girl painting a bed-frame with white enamelled paint. The depiction of the fr ...
'' *''
Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating ''Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating'' (also referred to as ''Tulip Hysteria Coordinating'') is a fictitious work of art by Marcel Duchamp. Early 1917, rumor spread that Duchamp was working on a Cubist painting titled ''Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating'' ...
'' * ''America'', sculpture by
Maurizio Cattelan Maurizio Cattelan (born 21 September 1960) is an Italian artist. Known primarily for his hyperrealistic sculptures and installations, Cattelan's practice also includes curating and publishing. His Satire, satirical approach to art has resulted in ...


References


Notes


''The Blind Man''
Vol. 2, May 1917, New York City. * * Gammel, Irene
''Baroness Elsa: Gender, Dada and Everyday Modernity''
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. * * * * *


Further reading

* * *Schwarz, Arturo, ''The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp'', revised and expanded edition, New York 1997, no. 345, pp. 648–50 *Kuenzli, Rudolf E., Naumann, Francis M., ''Marcel Duchamp: Artist of the Century'', Issue 16 of Dada surrealism, MIT Press, 1991, * Adcock, Craig, ''Marcel Duchamp's Notes from the Large Glass: An N-Dimensional Analysis'', Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1983, 29–39, * Sidney Janis Gallery, ''Challenge and Defy: Extreme Examples by XX Century Artists, French and American'', The New York 57th Street Journal, 25 September 1950


External links



* ttp://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/duchamps-fountain.html Duchamp's ''Fountain''
Smarthistory Smarthistory is a free resource for the study of art history created by art historians Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Smarthistory is an independent not-for-profit organization and the official partner to Khan Academy for art history. Smarthisto ...
at
Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...

Duchamp and the Ready-Mades
Smarthistory Smarthistory is a free resource for the study of art history created by art historians Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Smarthistory is an independent not-for-profit organization and the official partner to Khan Academy for art history. Smarthisto ...
at
Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...

Duchamp and the Fountain, November, December, galley 4/9/15
{{Authority control Marcel Duchamp works 1917 sculptures Urinals Lost sculptures Modernist sculpture Found object Vandalized works of art 1910s photographs Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz