Lost Art Blog

Duchamp entered Fountain under the pseudonym "R Mutt" to the 1917 Society of Independent Artists exhibition. He even alluded to another collaborator - a female friend who had given him the urinal as a sculpture.

The New York Dadaists kicked up a fuss over Fountain's rejection from the exhibition (an exhibition known to accept and display any artwork). The second issue of The Blindman (a Dada journal published by the New York Dadaists in 1917) contained a photograph of the work and writings asserting its worth as an artwork:

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.

The original urinal was almost immediately lost, however in 1950 a few replicas were created and signed by Duchamp.

To find out more about Duchamp's Fountain, please visit here.

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