Intro and a dash of Duchamp’s toilet – mair1

03/03/18 • 9 min

Marcel Duchamp the Man and his “Arty” Urinal

It is very hard to talk about a lot of Modern Art without mentioning Marcel Duchamp, he was a pioneer of the idea “that anything can be considered art...So we want to give you the “heads up” on the Toilet man himself.

Born 1887 Died in 1968

Duchamp came to prominence with his “Nude descending a staircase Number 2” and this was painted in 1912. It was first exhibited in 1913 New York at a famous exhibition called the Armoury show, this featured other famous artists, such as Van Goch, Picasso and Matisse.

In 1917 in New York there was an exhibition of the Society of Independent artists, Marcel Duchamp was on the board of judges. The exhibition entrance rules stated that anyone could enter and that everything that was submitted would be accepted and shown.

Marcel Duchamp anonymously entered a Ceramic urinal he bought. He painted on it the name R Mutt..... The piece was called “Fountain”

The idea behind the artwork was to submit something that was “readymade”, suggesting that an artist does not even have to create the work and that it is the idea behind the piece that is important.

By submitting a toilet he knew that the Society would come under a lot of pressure if they showed the work because they would have to explain their actions to the wider public: as a result, it was rejected, despite the judges saying all pieces would be accepted.

Duchamp remained pretty much unknown until the 1950s and 1960s when a new generation of artists were influenced by him.

Bonus Facts

No one except his closest friends knew that he had created the piece
A poll of experts Voted it the best piece of art in the 20th century
A small number of authorised were made replicas as the original was lost.
At the end of his career, he retired and took up chess and secretly worked on a single piece of artwork called “Ettant donnes”
R Mutt why perhaps R.M. stand for ReadyMade, or it came from the Mott Ironworks. In German, pronounced as the word ‘armut’, meaning poverty.
Marcel Duchamp was a very talented painter as you can see in his 1910 portrait of his father

Useful links about Marcel Duchamp

More detail on the Urinal piece “Fountain”

Link on the Armory show and “Nude Descending a Staircase”

“Ettant Donnes Duchamps” final piece

A Short video on Marcel Duchamp

Extra Final Note!

Did Duchamp create Fountain?

There has been a theory that Duchamp was not responsible for the creation of “Fountain” however after much research we still believe in the accepted version of Art History. Here is a link to a good blog post by artbouillon.com discussing the issue.

The post Intro and a dash of Duchamp’s toilet – mair1 appeared first on .

Marcel Duchamp the Man and his “Arty” Urinal

Born 1887 Died in 1968

Marcel Duchamp anonymously entered a Ceramic urinal he bought. He painted on it the name R Mutt..... The piece was called “Fountain”

Duchamp remained pretty much unknown until the 1950s and 1960s when a new generation of artists were influenced by him.

Bonus Facts

No one except his closest friends knew that he had created the piece
A poll of experts Voted it the best piece of art in the 20th century
A small number of authorised were made replicas as the original was lost.
At the end of his career, he retired and took up chess and secretly worked on a single piece of artwork called “Ettant donnes”
R Mutt why perhaps R.M. stand for ReadyMade, or it came from the Mott Ironworks. In German, pronounced as the word ‘armut’, meaning poverty.
Marcel Duchamp was a very talented painter as you can see in his 1910 portrait of his father

Useful links about Marcel Duchamp

More detail on the Urinal piece “Fountain”

Link on the Armory show and “Nude Descending a Staircase”

“Ettant Donnes Duchamps” final piece

A Short video on Marcel Duchamp

Extra Final Note!

Did Duchamp create Fountain?

The post Intro and a dash of Duchamp’s toilet – mair1 appeared first on .

Next Episode

Artists who vandalise, vandalism as art? – mair02

There have been quite a few artists who have vandalised other works and then called it art. We will be taking you on a journey of pee-pee, spray painting, fire and accidentally ripping canvasses.

Please remember to subscribe and thanks for downloading. More info at ModernArtisRubbish.com

Art Stories we came across.

Jeff Koons Augmented Sculptures.

Jeff Koons has launched an augmented reality app in conjunction with Snapchat. It will enable you to see a Koons’ sculpture virtually installed into the scene. In response, the artist Sebastian Errazuriz has launched an app that will place a virtually vandalised Koon sculpture in the same location.

Artist setting alight to a French bank.

Petr Pavlensky the Russian artist, who got asylum in France, set alight to a French Bank in Paris and was arrested and charged. “The Banque de France has taken the place of the Bastille, and bankers have taken the place of monarchs.” stated the artist.

Steve Wynn once put his arm through a Picasso

In 2006 Steve Wynn accidentally put his elbow through a Picasso painting called “Le Reve” causing millions of pounds worth of damage.

The Main Show

Black Sheep

In 1994 artist Mark Bridger damaged an artwork by Damien Hirst called “Away from the Flock” it was a stuffed lamb was placed in a tank of formaldehyde. He poured black into the tank and renamed the work “Black Sheep”. Bridger was arrested and appeared at Bow Street Magistrate’s Court. He felt his work was an artistic act and was a “positive contribution” to the work. Bridger was found guilty of criminal damage and received a conditional discharge.

Vladamir Umanets and the Rothko

Oct 2012 Umanets walked into the Tate Modern gallery, he picked a Mark Rothko painting and later stated that it could have been any work he chose to deface.

In the corner of the painting, he wrote a potential piece of yellowism. The damage went through several layers of paint.

Quoted in the Guardian Umanets stated “I believe that if someone restores the [Rothko] piece and removes my signature the value of the piece would be lower but after a few years the value will go higher because of what I did” As a result of the attack, It took years of restoration costing approx $280,000 (£200,000) to repair. Umanets was sentenced to 2 years in prison for vandalism.

Tony Shafrazi and Guernica

Guernica was painted by Pablo Picasso in response to the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica in 1937. It is a big painting, over 7 and half metres and long 3 metres high.

Tony Shafrazi (an artist) in 1974, walked into the Museum of Modern Art in New York and wrote across the painting in foot-high letters “Kill Lies All”. Eventually, he was caught by a guard, and he shouted “call the curator I am an artist”

The actual damage to the painting wasn’t that bad, the paint was actually quite easily removed because the canvas was so heavily varnished.

The painting is now protected by armed guards and is located in Madrid.

For this act of Vandalism Shafrazi got 5 years probation. What might have helped him was that the judge asked him would you do it again? He replied, “No I did it already, I’ve other things to do”....

Pee on the Duchamp

The Marcel Duchamp urinal art piece “Fountain” has been a very popular target for artists throughout the years. Several authorised copies are in circulation, they have been attacked many times.

Brian Eno

In 1990 he urinated on the Duchamp artwork by feeding a pre-filled urine tube through a gap in the protective casing.

Pierrie Pinoncelli

In 1993 the French artist urinated into the piece while it was on display in Nimes, France, and at a 2006 exhibition in Paris, he attacked the work with a hammer.

Mad for real

In May 2000, Cai Yuan and Jian Jun Xi, known as “Mad for Real” urinated on the artworks protective perspex casing.

Björn Kjelltoft

May 1999 Björn Kjelltoft an art student Urinated on a replica of the fountain. He wanted to have a dialogue with Duchamp