Fountain

Fountain is a 1917 work by Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp used a urinal, which he titled Fountain and signed "R. Mutt". It is one of the pieces which he called readymades. In such pieces he made use of an already existing object. Readymades also go by the term Found object (French: objet trouvé). The art show to which Duchamp submitted the piece stated that all works would be accepted, but Fountain was not actually displayed, and the original has been lost. The work is regarded by some as a major landmark in 20th century art. Replicas commissioned by Duchamp in the 1960s are now on display in a number of different museums. Marcel Duchamp arrived in the United States less than two years prior to the creation of Fountain and had become involved...