TOW #27 - Fountain by Marcel Duchamp

                Marcel Duchamp was raised in Normandy and was surrounded by artists. Growing up, Duchamp became interested in symbolism and how it was used to create themes of sexual identity and desire. But what Duchamp mostly enjoyed was challenging the definition of art. He believed that essentially anything could be art and that no one could really decide besides the artist themselves what was truly art and what wasn’t. Many people were very outraged about Duchamp’s opinion and during most of his surrealism period he faced harsh ridicule from other artists around him.

                Duchamp’s most popular surrealism piece that questioned the definition of art was Fountain from 1917. Two years prior to this piece Duchamp first coined the term ‘readymade’, he used it to describe the mass-produced everyday objects that were had taken out of their usual context and then promoted as a works of art. Fountain, which is a standard urinal Duchamp bought from a manufacturer, was highly criticized for not being an original work of art by Duchamp since it was a mass produced urinal that he bought and then wrote a fake alias on as a signature.  When Duchamp anonymously submitted Fountain to the Society of Independent Artists in 1917, they rejected the piece, even though the submission rules stated that all works would be accepted as long as the artist paid the fee. The Society felt as if the piece was someone playing a prank on them since technically the piece was just a urinal.

                Duchamp’s main purpose of ‘creating’ Fountain was to make people question what is art. During his time period, Duchamp wasn’t very successful at achieving this because most people were just frustrated about the piece and didn’t even think to consider the deeper meaning behind it. However, today Duchamp’s message is one of the main themes of art and is constantly used by artists and students to justify their pieces that are often criticized for being too unoriginal.