Fountain
work by Marcel Duchamp
Quick Summary
Duchamp, Marcel: Fountain
Fountain, original (lost) ready-made by Marcel Duchamp, 1917; photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.
Marcel Duchamp's Fountain is a 1917 work that challenged traditional notions of art. It is a porcelain urinal signed "R. Mutt" and submitted to an art exhibition. Duchamp, a pioneer of the ready-made concept, selected ordinary manufactured objects and designated them as art. This act aimed to question the uniqueness of art objects and redefine art as an intellectual process rather than a material one. Fountain became a significant piece in the Dada movement and influenced later art forms like Pop art and conceptual art.12
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