Marcel Duchamp s Fountain

Transcription

1 Marcel Duchamp s Fountain Sarah Shea HUMN Professor Nelson

2 Marcel Duchamp s Fountain People often ask what constitutes good art. Who decides whether or not a piece is art and whether it is good art or not? Marcel Duchamp challenged popular notions of his day about what art actually is. Duchamp, a French artist living in New York at the turn of the century, believed that it was up to the artist to determine what art is. Duchamp is most famous for a type of sculpture he created called readymades 1. Readymades are ordinary functional household objects that have either been joined to other objects, or chosen to stand alone as sculpture. Examples of his readymades include a coat hanger nailed to the floor of his studio, a hat rack suspended from the ceiling, a typewrite cover concealing nothing, and a bicycle wheel attached to a stool. Duchamp often altered the objects in some way, sometimes by just turning the object on its side, or hanging it anything other than the specific way it was suppose to be placed in. Marcel Duchamp s belief was that because the artist chose the object to be art, it was, even though the artist did not physically manufacture it. Marcel Duchamp was born in 1887 to a very artistic French family. Three of his siblings went on to become successful artists. Duchamp studied art at the Académie Julian, a studio school in Paris for artists with an academic tradition. Shortly after his time at the school, Duchamp created what would become a well-known piece: Nude 1 The term readymade was not actually in existence at the time of his first readymades. The term didn t come about until after he came to America from France in Duchamp himself said of these the following: It was an interesting word, but when I put a bicycle wheel on a stool, the fork down, there was no idea of a "readymade," or anything else. It was just a distraction. I didn't have any special reason to do it, or any intention of showing it, or describing anything. (From the article by Molly Nesbit entitled His Common Sense- Marcel Duchamps in the magazine Art Forum. Oct. 1994)

3 Descending a Staircase. The painting depicted a cubist figure in motion. By superimposing the image of the figure, Duchamp created movement in two dimensions. This became one of his most famous paintings, and possibly the first one to create controversy at art shows. Duchamp traveled to New York in Having made friends with the likes of artists such as Man Ray, Beatrice Wood, and Francis Picabia, Duchamp became well known within the surrealist circle, and even founded the Société Anonyme. This society was the one that would later reject Duchamp s own entry into their art show. In 1942 Duchamp permanently settled in New York, and lived there until his death in One of Duchamp s most famous, and controversial readymades is called Fountain. Fountain was first introduced in April of Duchamp entered it into an art exhibition that was being put on by the American Society of Independent Artists, a group that Duchamp himself was a director of. Duchamp entered the readymade under the name of Richard Mutt; by using an alias, Duchamp turned the entry into a test for the society. The main idea of the exhibition was an exhibition where artists of all schools can exhibit together-certain that whatever they send will be hung There are no requirements for admission to the Society save the acceptance of its principles and the payment of the initiation fee of one dollar and the annual dues of five dollars 2 Duchamp sent in his readymade with the required fees, and according to the rules of the exhibition, Fountain 2 Taken from Marcel Duchamp: Artist of the Century 1990 passage from an announcement entitled The Society of Independent Artists, Inc.

4 was to be accepted. However, because this readymade was originally manufactured to be a urinal, it was considered, by the society, to be too controversial and inappropriate for the standards of this time, and they therefore turned it down. Following this action, Duchamp sent in his resignation to the society. There was much ado over these happenings. Articles appeared in major newspapers regarding it, but still no one knew who Richard Mutt was. An article also appeared in The Blind Man, an art journal Duchamp himself published. The anonymous author of the article defended the Fountain as art and went on to say The only works of art America has given are her plumbing and her bridges." 3 This was the early 1900 s, so at this time the idea of modern art was still fairly new. People were starting to get use to it, but were not comfortable enough to be introduced to something such as Fountain. A bathroom fixture, especially a urinal, was considered too inappropriate, and was even said to be immoral. In that same article in The Blind Man, the author defends Fountain on this matter by saying, Now Mr. Mutt's fountain is not immoral, that is absurd, no more than a bath tub is immoral. It is a fixture that you see every day in plumbers' show windows. This is a very true statement; after all, bathtubs are not considered immoral are they? However, it being a urinal, and because of its reference to unpleasant bodily functions, it may seem inappropriate to have to study and examine it for any period of time, like art is suppose to be studied. This is certainly valid reasoning. Perhaps, however, because the urinal was flipped onto its back, and called Fountain rather than Urinal, it is divorced from the whole bathroom scene, 3 Marcel Duchamp himself most likely wrote this article, however, a dear friend of his, Beatrice Wood, might have written it as well. This detail, like most regarding Fountain, is not for sure because everything about its existence was very secretive.

5 and this therefore makes it more appropriate. As always, with art, it s all a matter of opinion. About two weeks after his resignation from the society, Duchamp had Alfred Steiglitz photograph Fountain. With the special attention he paid to the lighting of the urinal, Duchamp tried to equate his art with artwork of both the Virgin Mary, and Buddha. The shadows cast on the urinal gave the illusion of a veil on it, much like the Virgin would wear. Also, all three images have the same general outline shape. 4 These photographs depict the similarities. This action wasn t so much an effort on Duchamp s part to explain his reasoning behind Fountain, or to prove that it was art. It was more of an opportunity to maybe take the art aspect of the object, and personify it to further create new levels to its artistic-ness. Marcel never felt the need to make people understand his motives. Because of who Marcel Duchamp was, and because his art seems to appear so meaningless that it must have some abstract meaning, there is vast amounts of speculation regarding the symbolism of Fountain. A very interesting set of ideas is that it is viewed as a highly sexual piece. 5 Because of its position, shape, and original 4 This information can be found in the book Marcel Duchamp: Artist of the Century 1990 Chapter ---- has more thoughts and information on this action taken by Duchamp. 5 An example of this speculation: By displaying this utensil upside down inverting it Duchamp slyly enhanced the uncertainty of the object s gender, intimating its androgyny. Camfield described the Fountain as a receptacle for the male "jet" turned upside-down and made

6 relationship to the male body (as a urinal), it nearly suggests female genitalia. There are also some that regard it as a bi-sexual piece because of its male and female qualities mentioned previously. Yet there are still others that see it as a homosexual piece. This is because as a urinal, it belongs in an all male environment, and, at this time in history, it was not uncommon for males to meet in restrooms to participate in sexual activities together. Of course, these are all just speculations, it is not known to anyone if there are any hidden meanings at all behind Fountain. The original Fountain, like the majority of Duchamp s readymades, has long since been destroyed. There have been many replicas in its place for exhibitions, and even though they are not the original, they convey the same ideas that the original did. An artist does not need to create a piece himself to have it be considered art. Its specific feature lies not in the work itself, but in the idea behind it. Emphasis is placed upon the artist not as craftsman, but as gifted perceiver whose choice of an object is seen as a creative act. The readymade thus becomes the focus of a meditation on the relation between external things and our perception of them. 6 This is just one definition of art ; perhaps though, art doesn t need a definition, perhaps it just needs an opinion. female, a vagina potentially containing its own fluids. This inversion that accentuates the feminine lines of a utensil intended for males, provides one more example of the theme of androgyny so often noted in Duchamp s work. Excerpt from article by Jack Spector in Tout-Fait, an online journal of Marcel Duchamp studies. 6 From article on website The Fine Site Author unknown

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8 Works Cited Art Journals: Tout-Fait: The Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journal Duchamp s Gendered Plumbing: A Family Business? By Jack Spector ArtForum, Oct His Common Sense, Marcel Duchamp s By Molly Nesbit Art Journal, winter 1998 Work Avoidance: The Everyday Life of Marcel Duchamp s Readymades By Helen Molesworth Internet sources: Fountain Wikipedia Encyclopedia: The Fine Site Book Sources: Marcel Duchamp: Artist of the Century 1990 MIT Press Edited By Rudolf E. Kuenzli and Francis M. Naumann

9 The Duchamp Effect 1996 MIT Press Edited By Martha Buskirk and Mignon Nixon Marcel Duchamp Work and Life 1993 MIT Press Edited and introduced by Pontus Hulten. Texts by Jennifer Gough-Cooper and Jacques Caumont