Art 1 - Discussion "Duchamp's Fountain"


             

Assignment:
Duchamp's Fountain (1917) is considered one of the most influential works of twentieth-century art. Why is this work so radical, along with other readymades Duchamp created in previous years? How does Duchamp's work fit into Modern ideas, and into the DADA movement, specifically? How does Duchamp's Fountain change the way we think about art thereafter?

Post:
Duchamp's readymades were an incredible idea for art in the twentieth-century.  The first video highlights the concept behind the readymades in a very easy to grasp idea.  How do you capture a world where everything is mass produced and constructed in artistic form?  Enter the readymades.  The first piece Duchamp called a ready made was a common snow shovel purchased from a stack of identical shovels.  Duchamp took the snow shovel back to the studio signed it, and assigned it with the title En prévision du bras cassé (In advance of the broken arm).  Does simply giving a manufactured item a name make it art?  Think about what just naming an otherwise ordinary item has already done for that piece.  We can now "see" the story of that shovel in vivid detail.

Duchamp's readymades were part of the Dada movement which was born out of negative reaction to World War I.  Dada rejected all ideas of reason and logic.  Irrationality is key.  Dada is more of an anti-art movement.  Traditionality, aesthetics, and beauty are out.  Dada was supposed to be raw, in your face, and offensive.  Dadaists had hoped to destroy traditional culture through Dada's rejection of aesthetics and tradition.

In 1917 Duchamp submitted Fountain to the Society of Independent Artists it was rejected by the committee.  It was not what they believed to be art.  A result that doesn't surprise me one bit.  Duchamp had taken a urinal placed it onto it's side and signed it "R.Mutt".  Not exactly what people of the time were accustomed to seeing at an art exhibition.  Is this really art?  That very question is part of what the Dada movement represented.  Is art purely beauty and physical technique?  According to Wikipedia Duchamp described his intent with the piece was to shift the focus of art from physical craft to intellectual interpretation.

Along with the many artist's involved in the larger Modern art movement Duchamp required that we open our minds to what was percieved as art.  It wasn't just about recreating greatness.  How can we capture more than what the eyes can see.  It was about raw vivid emotions.  Accesible to everyone, modern art speaks to you almost instantly in one way or another.

In the Power of Art video they explained how Picasso used his unique style to capture the world around him.  In response to the bombing of Guernica, when Picasso was commissioned by the Spanish Government to create a mural for display at the Paris International Exposition World's Fair he went for shock and awe.  Picasso had achieved the goal.  With Guernica Picasso was able to use modern art to show the world the toils of war, captured from a raw and almost dreamlike state.  As you look into the painting you are transported to the field, all the tragedies of war present right in front of you.



After reviewing this weeks articles/videos I must say I have a much greater appreciation for modern art as a whole as well as Duchamp's readymades.  Understanding the idea and context behind Duchamp's pieces and also Malevich's White on White completely changes my view of them.  While I am sure there is much about these pieces that I still do not understand I would have never been able to see Fountain as anything other than a urinal nor could I see White on White as anything but nonsense for a painting.  Taking this class is really opening my eyes to the history and core ideas of what art is.  I look forward to the rest of the class :)


Resource Links:

DADA - Duchamp and the Readymades,