R. Mutt (Marcel Duchamp alt get to know) Fountain 1917 – pwning some artfabulous persons in the process because they (members of the board he was on for the exhibit) said they would exhibit any work submitted so he decided to test them on it…

Log in to see images!

Duchamp was a board member of the Society of Independent Artists and submitted the piece under the name R. Mutt, presumably to hide his involvement with the piece, to their 1917 exhibition, which, it had been proclaimed, would exhibit all work submitted. After much debate by the board members (most of whom did not know Duchamp had submitted it) about whether the piece was or was not art, Fountain was hidden from view during the show.[4] Duchamp and Arensberg resigned from the board after the exhibition.

“The Richard Mutt Case:

They say any artist who pays six dollars may exhibit.

Mr. Richard Mutt sent in a fountain. Without discussion, this object disappeared and was never exhibited.

What were the grounds for refusing Mr Mutt’s fountain:-

1. Some contended it was immoral, vulgar.

2. Others that is was plagiarism, a plain piece of plumbing.

Now Mr Mutt’s fountain is not immoral, that is absurd, no more than a bathtub is absurd. It is a fixture which you see every day in plumbers’ show windows.

Whether Mr Mutt made the fountain with his own hands or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view – created a new thought for that object.

As for plumbing, that is absurd. The only works of art America has produced are her plumbing and her bridges.”

Duchamp peed on all the notions everyone had of art, before anyone had peed on notions of art in such a way. Ready mades get to know. Dada and surrealism (and not just that fabulous person Dali that was kicked out of the surrealist movement by Breton for being a sellout).

IT’S NOT COOL TO ONLY LET PEOPLE CHOOSE ONE PIECE…

What about Rauschenberg Log in to see images!

ALSO JUST SO YOU KNOW – this is not an entry – HE (Duchamp) CREATED HIS OWN DML BACK IN THE DAY, NAMED L.H.O.O.Q. WHICH WHEN SPOKEN IN FRENCH SOUNDS LIKE ‘SHE HAS A HOT bum’... RESPECT

Log in to see images!

FORUMWARZ ART HISTORY