Encounters with Duchamp's 'Fountain'
On a visit to Tate Modern I thought it might be fun to do a study of Duchamp's 'Fountain', a piece of 'readymade' sculpture which the Tate quotes as topping a poll of 500 art experts in the UK to be the single most influential piece of art created in the 20th century. I was keen to see what the galleristas at the Tate would make of it, so I sat on a convenient bench for about an hour and photographed the passers by. The work itself was submitted by Duchamp, under the guise of R Mutt (Mott was the maker of the sanitary ware), to the inaugural exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York. A group that Duchamp had himself helped to found. The works submitted by members were supposed to be hung without reservation, but the directors of the society present during the hanging decided to exclude the urinal as not fitting to be shown on the grounds of both art and decency. Duchamp resigned from the society and retrieved the urinal which was photographe...