Fountain (Duchamp)

Almost two years before the creation of the Fountain, Marcel Duchamp arrived in the United States , where he was involved in the Dada anti-art cultural movement in New York . According to one version, the creation of the “Fountain” is supposed to have begun when Duchamp, accompanied by artist Joseph Stell and art collector Walter Ahrensberg, purchased a standard model of urinal produced by JL Mott Iron Works on Fifth Avenue 118. Duchamp brought the urinal to his studio, turned it on 90 degrees from normal position, signing: " R. Mutt 1917 " ^{[3] [4]} According to another version, in 1917, Duchamp sent a letter to his sister, indicating that one of his friends, under the pseudonym Richard Mutt, gave him a porcelain urinal as a sculpture ^[5] . Duchamp never acknowledged collaboration in creating his work, but two people called themselves co-authors: Dadaist Freytag-Leringhoven and Allen Norton, who published an essay in The Blind Man magazine on Duchamp's Fountain ^[6] .

When Duchamp was a member of the council of the independent artists' society, heated debate flared up around the Fountain, as the rest of the members did not know who was the author of the Fountain. As a result, it was decided not to allow the work to the exhibition. In protest, Duchamp left the council ^[7] .

The second issue of The blind man magazine described the controversy of famous Dadaists ( Beatrice Wood , Walter Arensberg) regarding whether Duchamp's work can be considered art. In particular, Beatrice noted the following:

Whether Mr. Mutt (Duchamp) did the fountain with his own hands or not does not matter. He chose it. He breathed life into a thing, removing its old meaning, creating a new thought for the object ^[8] .

In defense of Duchamp's work, Beatrice added:

The only art that the USA donated was plumbing and bridges ^[8] .

Soon after the demonstration of the fountain, he disappeared. According to the biographer Duchamp Calvik Tomkins, the urinal was thrown out like garbage ^[9] .

The first reproduction of Fontana was made by Duchamp in 1950 , later also in 1953 and 1963 . In 1964, eight other urinal fountains were made by other artists ^[10] . The works are presented in various public foundations: Indiana University at Bloomington , San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , Philadelphia Museum of Art , Canadian National Gallery , Pompidou Center and Tate Modern . All eight exhibits were made of earthenware, resembling original porcelain with a black signature ^[11] .

Duchamp himself, in response to the fact that his work began to enjoy high popularity, after many years answered as follows:

I threw a shelf with a urinal in their face, and now they admire their aesthetic perfection ^[12] .

The beginning of the 20th century is considered the era of radical changes in the traditional concept of ideals and art. So impressionism began to be widely used, a more radical movement was formed - Dada , the essence of which was the denial of the traditional concept of rationalism and logic and the consequent destruction of any kind of aesthetics ^[13] . In Europe and America, new communities of artists of impressionism and dadaism were formed ^[14] . The “fountain” itself is then a kind of innovative read-made ^[15] . It was believed that it was precisely Duchamp's urinal that became the most radical challenge to traditional art, but the author of Fontana himself did not recognize art in his work, but rather a mockery of art as such and the avant-garde ^[16] .

In December 2004, as a result of a survey among British art professionals, Duchamp's work “Fountain” was recognized as the greatest work of the 20th century ^[17] , gaining 64% of the vote and thus ahead of Picasso 's painting “ Avignon Girls ” ^[18] . Representatives of The Independent magazine noted in 2008 that Duchamp thus invented conceptual art and “forever broke the traditional connection between the artist’s work and merit for the work” ^[19] .

In November 1999, at the Sotheby's auction, one of eight copies of the 1964 Fontana was sold for $ 1.7 million ^[20] .

• In November 1991, Avdey Ter-Oganyan presented the opportunity for visitors to the Gallery in Trekhprudny Lane to urinate in Duchamp's urinal, calling this project “Not a Fountain”.

• In 1993, Avdei Ter-Oganyan presented to the public in the Gallery in Trekhprudny Lane the work “Problems of Restoring Works of Contemporary Art” ^[21] . The author’s comment was as follows: “I imagined a situation in which Duchamp's“ Fountain ”crashed. What will museum workers do? Glue the old one, or buy a new one. I think they will act in the most ridiculous way - they will make a copy. But the point is not in a specific subject, but in the idea. Duchamp even left instructions that museums would always exhibit the usual new model for three copecks - in order to avoid turning the “fountain” into nostalgic antiques ” ^[21] .

• The South African artist Kendell Gears became widely known after urinating in the Fountain during an exhibition in Venice in 1993 ^[22] . Swedish artist Björn Kjeldtoft did the same in 1999 at the contemporary art exhibition in Stockholm ^[23] .

• In 2006, 77-year-old Pierre Pinochelli smashed a urinal at the Pompidou Center ^[24] . According to him, in this way he wanted to "increase the value of the urinal." The court as a result sentenced Pierre to a three-month suspended sentence and a fine of $ 245,490 ^{[25] [26]} .

• Dialogs with Marcel Duchamp. - [Sl]: Da Capo Press, 1979 (1969 in French). - ISBN 0-306-80303-8 .
• Gammel, Irene Baroness Elsa: Gender, Dada and Everyday Modernity . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press , 2002.
• Hubregtse, Menno. Robert J. Coady's The Soil and Marcel Duchamp's Fountain: Taste, Nationalism, Capitalism, and New York Dada (Eng.) // Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review: journal. - 2009. - Vol. 34 , no. 2 . - P. 28–42 .
• Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. - Belmont, Calif. : Thomson Wadsworth, 2006 .-- ISBN 0-534-63640-3 .
• Kuenzli, Rudolf E., Naumann, Francis M., Marcel Duchamp: Artist of the Century , Issue 16 of Dada surrealism, MIT Press , 1991, ISBN 0262610728
• Marquis, Alice Goldfarb. Marcel Duchamp: The Bachelor Stripped Bare A Biography. - Minneapolis: MFA Publications: MFA Publications, 2002 .-- ISBN 0-87846-644-4 .
• Naumann, Francis M., The Recurrent, Haunting Ghost: Essays on the Art, Life and Legacy of Marcel Duchamp , New York 2012, pp. 70-81
• Schwarz, Arturo, The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp , revised and expanded edition, New York 1997, no. 345, pp. 648-50
• Tomkins, Calvin. Duchamp: A Biography. - New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1996 .-- ISBN 0-8050-5789-7 .

• Betacourt, Michael The Richard Mutt case: Looking for Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (Neopr.) . Art Science Research Laboratory (2003). Archived March 1, 2006.
• West, Patrick . He was just taking the piss: Observations on Duchamp and his urinal , New Statesman (December 13, 2004).