Progression 2 Paper
Duchamp’s Masterpiece
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Eyes squinting. You see but you don't see. A sense of bewilderment that turns into intrigue that grows as you try to make sense of what you are looking at. It's a urinal. What am I missing? You look a little closer and notice the signature on the side saying "R . Mutt 1917". Is it art? What is art? Why is it possible that some people brand their own ideas as art but discredit others as not?
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Often when people are thinking of the word art they will think of the status quo: paintings, busts, statues, carvings, textiles, and the many other kinds of art that directly show the creativity of humans. The reason behind this is societal norms-- what society wants us to believe art is. Because of this, people commonly cast-off art similar to Duchamp's Fountain, calling it an already existing “art”. However, one idea these people do not tap into is their imagination, as the creativity of the mind is just as artful as the creativity of the hands. Duchamp’s Fountain is meant to conjure thought and interest in the artist's message. That is what true art is. Though some may disagree, Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain should be considered the highest form of art as it challenges the standards of its day, evokes feeling, and elicits thought and creativity.
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First of all, Duchamp’s Fountain is art as it is limitless in both its form and execution. To provide some context, when the Fountain first appeared it caused quite an uproar in the art community. The piece “turned the art world upside down as artists and critics debated whether this was art or a hoax” (Philadelphia Museum of Art). Although there was a lot of negative backlash to the piece, it showed the art community and also the world as a whole that art doesn't need to be constricted into one box. Art can take many styles and forms, and as long as it speaks to the viewer and makes sense to them, that is all that matters for the sake of “art”. The Fountain showed a new perspective to the art community. The idea that a useful item could have its use taken away by the new title, and thus creating a new thought and purpose to that piece. One of the avant-garde magazines from the early 1900’s notably published that, “Whether Mr. Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view—created a new thought for that object”(Philadelphia Museum of Art). These thoughts portray the true meaning of art: that can be a painting or a thought.
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Duchamp’s Fountain evokes feelings for the viewer when they view the piece and start dissecting the art in their head. This feeling of anticipation is the seed of pure imaginative thought that grows as you view the Fountain. As “an icon of twentieth-century art” (Sejten) the Fountain gives a feeling of breaking free from the norms of the art world. It also lets people appreciate a different look at art, which is an integral part of the concept of art as a whole. This piece tremendously tested the limits of art, and doing this has forever had an impact on the concept of art. The piece gives off a feeling of seeing art in a new light, and what this means for the future of art and artists, it's not so much what you directly see, but a part of the art is also the effect on the concept of art as a whole. When I look at the Fountain, I see a blank canvas for me to interpret what it means, this gives me a feeling of open-endedness as if my interpretation of the piece is what makes it valid. I presume this to be true for other spectators as well. We “have become accustomed to seeing art without really seeing, without experiencing the possibilities it opens”(Sejten). Not only does the Fountain open up future art styles and inspire artists and the art community, it also shows the spectator a new way of comprehending and understanding the art. The art of creating a story in your head from what you are physically seeing in person. This can be seen as almost art within art.
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The piece makes the viewers of the Fountain contemplate different thoughts in their head which brings out their own personal creativity when concerning art. Many people want to look deeper at the reasoning behind it and Duchamp’s goal. Many may be surprised to know this but actually “Duchamp was performing a kind of practical joke, aimed at testing beliefs about art and taste in the art world, but he was also serious. Which made him no less of an artist.” Although many did not find this “practical joke” to be funny, it was Duchamp’s way of testing the waters, to see how the art community would react to his interpretation of art, and whether or not people could sympathize with his viewpoint and idea.
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Sometimes we look at art and judge too harshly without analyzing the idea behind it and the goal of the artist, however, this piece reminds people that to understand art you can't just look at it, you have to look deeper and implement your own personal creativity to make sense of it. How would you interpret this piece? “Communicating on all instances, on the contrary, causes a circular communication in which the whole setting becomes more important than the presumed aesthetic content” (Sejten). One needs to think and implement their own creativity in their heads regarding the artwork to the point where the aesthetic look is barely relevant. I believe that was Duchamp’s goal behind the whole “experiment”. He wanted to see how other people would interpret his idea. The main message to be had from Duchamp’s Fountain, is that imagination is the truest art in existence, meaning that imagination is both the inspiration and interpretation of art at the same time. In this case, personal creativity is the driving force of being able to understand the Fountain. Because of this our imagination and creativity work hand in hand to be able to paint us a picture of our personal interpretation of art. We can’t just see a meaning or idea in our heads, as it is impossible to truly understand the Fountain and what Duchamp wanted viewers to understand without putting our own work in first. That is what makes Duchamp’s Fountain the highest form of art. The fact that it involves the audience and incorporates them into the meaning of the piece.
Although Duchamp’s Fountain is quite an old piece of art, there are many newer pieces created by artists in more recent times that share the same ideas of imagination, looking within, and personal creativity. One example of this kind of modern art is Damien Hirst’s Dot Paintings (series). The paintings are a hand-done collage of identical dots in a variety of colours in a perfect gridded pattern. “Any physical evidence of human intervention – such as the compass point left at the centre of each spot – was removed, until the works appeared to have been constructed mechanically, or by a person trying to paint like a machine”(Hirst). The interesting thing about this perspective is that Hirst is creating hand-done artwork, but wants it to appear as though a machine created the masterpiece. This is a very similar concept to how Marcel Duchamp took an existing urinal and created his own artwork out of it, stripping away its identity and making it a new piece of art that “he” made. Although the ideas are quite the opposite to each other the style of thinking is what is most similar of all.
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In conclusion, Duchamp’s Fountain is an integral part of modern art history. It gives us a glimpse of the beginnings of modern art and the art communities' backlash to these beginnings. It teaches us to appreciate how our minds can coincide with art to formulate an idea totally different then what we see. In addition, the Fountain gives us an opportunity to see other people's interpretation of the idea and motive and be able to compare, while tapping into our inner emotions and creativity. The Fountain is not just a plain piece of art, but the highest form of art as it is a whole experience, which could have been what Duchamp wanted it to be from the very beginning, only the world wasn't ready to experience it yet.
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Works Cited
Anne Elisabeth Sejten. “Art Fighting Its Way Back to Aesthetics Revisiting Marcel Duchamp’s
Fountain.” Journal of Art Historiography, no. 15, Journal of Art Historiography, 2016, p. 1–.
Ltd, Science. “Damien Hirst.” Spot Paintings - Damien Hirst, www.damienhirst.com/texts1/series/spots.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Marcel Duchamp and the Fountain Scandal, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 27 Mar. 2017, press.philamuseum.org/marcel-duchamp-and-the-fountain-scandal/.
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