Change the world with “Fountain”

In 1917, Duchamp bought a urinal from a chain of JL Mott Iron Workshops in New York, signed the pseudonym’R. Mutt’on one side, named Fountain, and submitted it to the Society of Independent Artists. After an emergency meeting, the association decided to refuse to show the fountain, saying that it was no different from urinating in stores and toilets because it was not flowing and plagiarized. Because this work challenges our perception of art.

If mass – produced urinals can be works of art, then maybe anything can. If only look at the object itself, in addition to more than the side of the artist’s signature, it is difficult to argue that it is a mundane fact of urination, and the aesthetic is really difficult to touch the top.

After the fountain was rejected, the Blind Man in New York published an anonymous essay defending the fountain saying: “It doesn’t matter whether Mr. Mutt created a fountain with his hands or not. He chose it. He presented an ordinary everyday object with a new angle, a new name, and he gave it a completely different identity.

The fountain is a powerful work of art because it contains a message: ” This is not a work of art. ” Pushed to the stage experimentally by Duchamp , it was like yelling at the audience: ” I am not a work of art. ” It rejects all the traditional artistic values of that era. It’s not unique, it’s not beautiful, it’s not craftsmanship.

Duchamp created a concept. Unlike the colorful works of Henri Matisse’s Beasts, we can still appreciate Duchamp ‘s fountain, the concept that subverts aesthetic values, even if we don’t see it with our own eyes. Simple in form but rich in metaphor. The greatness of the fountain lies in that it is not art, but at the same time, it has undoubted artistry.