Duchamp Submits Fountain
Marcel Duchamp submitted a urinal signed "R. Mutt" as art, challenging every assumption about what art is — and igniting a debate that continues today.
In 1917, French artist Marcel Duchamp submitted a porcelain urinal, turned on its side and signed "R. Mutt 1917," to the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York. Titled Fountain, it was rejected by the committee despite the Society's policy of accepting all submissions. Duchamp's "readymade" — an ordinary manufactured object designated as art by the artist's choice — posed a radical question: if the artist says it's art, is it? The work challenged the cult of craftsmanship, the role of the artist, and the authority of institutions. A 2004 survey of 500 art professionals named Fountain the most influential artwork of the 20th century.
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