Fountain (Duchamp)
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""Fountain"" is a readymade piece of art assembled by Marcel Duchamp in 1917. The most famous of his readymades, Fountain is merely a ceramic urinal purchased by Duchamp, then signed under a psuedonym, and given a title.
The purpose of Duchamp's readymades was twofold. First, they would challenge notions of what art actually was and how it should be viewed. In the early 20th century, there was no art except high society gallery art. Second, since the actual creation of the artwork was not done by the alleged artist, Fountan invites the viewer to share in the creative process with Duchamp. Because the work is stripped almost bare of influence by Duchamp, there is less holding the viewer back from coming up with their own meaning and significance of the piece.
In the timeline of creativity in art, a huge leap was made when Duchamp proposed the paradigm that creativity occurs on both sides of the artist-audience divide.
"The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act." - Marcel Duchamp
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Daley Tocher 12:48, 2 May 2006 (Pacific Daylight Time)
