Fountain, by Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp decided to test the boundaries of society with his readymade piece of art called Fountain. It was a urinal, placed in a competition put on by the American Society of Independent Artists, which Duchamp was a director of. He put his piece under a fake name, Richard Mutt, in order to test the other directors and see how the rest of the art world would react. The competition allowed any type of art as long as the artist paid a fee before they entered it. Duchamp followed these rules, and so Fountain should have been able to be a part of the competition. It was not allowed in due to being too inappropriate for society during that time period. After this, Duchamp resigned from that group of directors. Duchamp thought that it was up to the artist to decide what art was. The American Society of Independent Artists was too close minded. The story found its way into an article in an art journal called The Bind Man, and defended the artwork. During that time, this type of art was still new. Therefore, it was very easy to argue about. Fountain gained the attention of many. Some thought of it as way too inappropriate, while others thought the opposite. It was all a matter of opinion. Duchamp later had pictures taken of Fountain where he could later compare it to Buddha and the Virgin Mary. They all had very similar shapes to one another. It was a mystery to everyone what Fountain actually represented. What was its meaning? Duchamp didn’t want to give it a meaning. He wanted the world to make its own interpretation. Comparing them to Buddha and the Virgin Mary was just an idea that people could use for their own imagination. Duchamp wanted it to have several layers of art, rather than just represent one thing. The artwork of Fountain is not the actual object itself, but the message that Duchamp was trying to send. He was trying to say that art doesn’t have a real definition, but rather is all a matter of the world’s opinion.