Fountain (Duchamp)
A porcelain urinal that redefined art through choice.
Fountain is a readymade sculpture credited to Marcel Duchamp from 1917. It is a porcelain urinal signed with the name "R. Mutt." Art historians and avant-garde theorists consider it a key milestone in 20th-century art.
In April 1917, this ordinary plumbing fixture was entered into the first exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, held at New York’s Grand Central Palace. The Society’s rules stated that any artist who paid the fee could exhibit, so the piece was not formally rejected. However, it was never placed on display. After being removed, the urinal was photographed in Alfred Stieglitz’s studio, and that image appeared in the Dada magazine *The Blind Man*. The original object has since been lost. In the 1950s and 1960s, Duchamp authorized sixteen replicas.
Duchamp explained that readymades are “everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice.” For *Fountain*, he turned the urinal 90 degrees from its usual position. The signature “R. Mutt” was a play on the name of the manufacturer, J. L. Mott Iron Works, combined with the comic strip *Mutt and Jeff*. “Richard” was French slang for a money-bags, a joke about a *pissotière*.
Recent scholarship has questioned Duchamp’s authorship. Art historian Glyn Thompson argues that the handwriting on the urinal matches that of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, a female artist living in Philadelphia at the time. He also identifies the urinal as a unique model made by a Philadelphia plumbing shop—a city Duchamp never visited. The piece is catalogued in Arturo Schwarz’s *The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp* as number 345.
- attributed_to
- Marcel Duchamp
- year
- 1917
- medium
- Porcelain urinal (readymade)
- field
- Sculpture, readymade
- known_for
- Challenging definitions of art through the selection of everyday objects
Lore & Background
Marcel Duchamp had arrived in the United States less than two years prior to the creation of Fountain and had become involved with Francis Picabia, Man Ray, and Beatrice Wood in the creation of an anti-rational, anti-art, proto-Dada cultural movement in New York City. In early 1917, rumors spread that Duchamp was working on a Cubist painting titled Tulip Hysteria Co-ordinating, but the painting likely never existed. According to one version, the creation of Fountain began when, accompanied by artist Joseph Stella and art collector Walter Arensberg, Duchamp purchased a standard Bedfordshire model urinal from the J. L. Mott Iron Works, 118 Fifth Avenue. The artist brought the urinal to his studio, reoriented it 90 degrees from its originally intended position of use, and wrote on it, "R. Mutt 1917". Duchamp elaborated that "Mutt" came from Mott Works, altered after the cartoon strip Mutt and Jeff, and "Richard" was French slang for money-bags.
Reader's Guide
Fountain is regarded by art historians and theorists of the avant-garde as a major landmark in 20th-century art. Duchamp stated that readymades are "everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice." The work was submitted under a pseudonym to the Society of Independent Artists, where Duchamp was a board member. After debate, it was hidden from view, and Duchamp resigned from the Board. The New York Dadaists stirred controversy in The Blind Man, with an editorial claiming that whether Mr. Mutt made the fountain or not has no importance—he chose it. The piece argued that the only works of art America has given are her plumbing and her bridges. Duchamp described his intent as shifting the focus of art from physical craft to intellectual interpretation. In recent years, it has been proposed that the original work was by the female artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, with new research identifying the handwriting on the urinal as belonging to her and labeling the urinal as a unique model made by a plumbing shop in Philadelphia—a city Duchamp never visited. Sixteen replicas were commissioned from Duchamp in the 1950s and 1960s.
Did You Know?
- The original Fountain has been lost; sixteen replicas were commissioned from Duchamp in the 1950s and 1960s.
- In recent years, it has been proposed that the original work was by the female artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.
- Duchamp stated that readymades are 'everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice.'
- The work was photographed at Alfred Stieglitz's studio and published in the Dada journal The Blind Man.
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