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| Marcel Duchamp, "Fountain" (1917). Click here for image URL |
The Fountain. Marcel's Duchamp most well known piece. This is probably 'the work of genius' which is never clearly explained, and we don't get quite why until we learn the story behind it.
By the year of 1917 in New York, Marcel Duchamp was a member of the board of the Society of Independent Artists. The Society was proposing an exhibition where anything submitted would be put up. As a prank, the artist bought a standard urinal, turned it 90 degrees, and signed it R. Mutt. For submitting it, a form was filled in claiming that the 'artist' of the "Fountain" was a man named Richard Mutt, from Philadelphia. Of course, the piece was too outrageous to join the show, and after a meeting of the board, where Duchamp himself was present, the piece was voted to be too inappropriate, and therefore would not be displayed.
Duchamp never said the piece belonged to him, until he produced his editions of "Boite en Valise" - a luggage where small samples of all of his works were shown. It was a small cary-on museum of his works.
Who could say this was no art? Especially because it falls into a whole concept of being a prank, and until this day, people question its nature. This piece should, at the very least, be credited for having the same effect (or at least almost) on people up to today.
