Fountain

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A white porcelain urinal turned on its back. The painted inscription "R. Mutt 1917" appears on the rim at the left side of the urinal.

Artist Marcel Duchamp (French, 1887–1968)

Title Fountain (Fontaine)

Date 1964 edition (after 1917 original)

Medium Painted and glazed ceramic

Dimensions Overall: 14 x 19 5/16 x 24 5/8 in. (35.6 x 49.1 x 62.5 cm)

Credit Line Partial gift of Mrs. William H. Conroy, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 71.37.7

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About this Work

A urinal laid on its back, Fountain is the most controversial of Duchamp’s readymades. Seeking to redefine traditional artistic standards and assumptions, Duchamp submitted a factory-made urinal under the pseudonym “R. Mutt,” to the Society of Independent Artists, a New York organization he helped found in 1917. When it was rejected, Duchamp wrote an impassioned defense of the artist’s right to choose, rather than make, objects and to give them aesthetic meanings through placement and context.

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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Fountain | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=71.37.7