Why it matters
A porcelain urinal, turned from its usual position and signed 'R. Mutt', was submitted to a New York exhibition in 1917. Duchamp called his readymades 'everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice', and art historians regard Fountain as a major landmark in 20th-century art.
Did you know?
- It was never placed in the show area, although society rules meant it could not be rejected.
- The original is lost; it survives in a photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.
- Sixteen replicas were made to Duchamp's approval in the 1950s and 1960s.
- It has been proposed that the original was by the artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.
Based on the Wikipedia article Fountain (Duchamp) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
