The Fountain by Duchamp in 1917
In this painting Duchamp wanted to constitute the question what is good art. He believed that is up to the artist to determine what “good art” really is. Duchamp is most famous for a type of sculpture he created called “readymades”. (Fountain (Duchamp)) Readymades are ordinary functional household objects that have either been joined to other objects, or chosen to stand alone as sculpture. This painting was a form of Dadaism, an obvious attempt to negate the traditional aesthetic value. (Potash) It was a criticism of the culture that created WWI. (Potash) During the war, people were treated in very unkind ways and Duchamp represented this through the Fountain. Duchamp does not have his name on the Fountain; he has the name R. Mutt. (Fountain (Duchamp) This name was unknown to society and people all over the world and they wondered who R. Mutt really was. He chose this name because the factory that this piece was named after was J. L. Mott Iron Works. The Fountain was the first piece of conceptual art, whose values lie in what people think.
Duchamp’s most famous, and controversial readymade is called Fountain. Fountain was first introduced in April of 1917. Duchamp entered it into an art exhibition that was being put on by the American Society of Independent Artists. It was so controversial because this readymade was originally manufactured to be a urinal, and it was considered, by society, to be too controversial and inappropriate for the standards of this time, and they therefore declined the work. After the refusal of his art piece Duchamp was furious he sent in his resignation to the society. Fountain (Duchamp) He believes that an artist does not need to create a piece himself to have it be considered art. This is just one definition of “art”; perhaps though, art doesn’t need a definition, perhaps it just needs an opinion.
