Fountain

Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain' (1917) was a white porcelain urinal bought at a New York plumbing supplier, rotated 90°, signed 'R. Mutt 1917', and submitted to the first exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists. Rejected by the organising committee even though Duchamp was on its board, it became the founding 'readymade' — an object of everyday manufacture re-presented as art by the artist's choice alone, shifting the centre of Western art from making to deciding. The original is lost; the versions in collections worldwide, including this one, are authorised replicas made under Duchamp's direction in the 1950s–60s.

Exhibition Venue

Centre Pompidou

Paris, France

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