If you are an art collector, then art does not really have any meaning for you, and the only purpose of art for you would be to earn profits.

However, for the rest of us, which includes the artist, the curator and the viewer, art can have very different meanings and a very different purpose.

I am a humanist in my values, so I tend to fall for Van Gogh’s quote; “ Art is to console those, who are broken by life,” and here in this blog I will discuss my view of looking at art.

This is a series, with multiple episodes (blogs). In this Episode, I will introduce you to a very popular work of art, my take on it, what does it mean, what is its purpose, and how does it help make the World, a better place to live in.

( Link to Previous episodes, is provided at the end of this blog)

Marcel Duchamp’s — The Fountain

Q. So who was this Duchamp guy, and what was his philosophy about art?

Marcel Duchamp, was more of a philosopher, than an artist ( in the traditional sense), and preferred chess more than art.

Back in the early 1900s, Marcel Duchamp, moved from his native France, to New York, a city which was buzzing with creativity, and one which he visualised as the Venice of the modern world. He would then go on to live there for the rest of his life, and influence the art scene in New York, and the whole world, more than any other artist in the past 300 years.

His take on art being — Idea is the Master, and Technique is its Slave.

Unfortunately, this if often a very misunderstood statement!!

The statement does not deny that classical art lacked in ideation. However, most of classical western art ( pre ~1850 A.D.), indeed was a visual representation of tales from the Bible! The beauty of the painting was not so much in the ideation by the artist, as in the skill and the craft of the artist, in depicting someone else’s idea graphically.

This according to Duchamp, this was an unfortunate state of affairs, as far as the arts were concerned. It urged people to accept art at its face value, and appreciate its beauty for what it was, on the surface, rather than scratch beneath the surface and dig deeper! It meant, classical art was for those with a good hand, but a slave brain!

It meant, classical art was for those with a good hand, but a slave brain!!!

Most people across the world, including the Cambridge philosophy professor, and acclaimed art critic — Roger Scruton, now accept Duchamp, to be the Galileo of the art world.

You may or may not agree, with him, but there is no denying the fact that he shook up the art world more than anyone else in the last 300 years, redefined the meaning and purpose of art itself, and influenced the birth of several art movements including — Conceptualism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art!

Q. The fascinating story behind the Fountain (1917)…

One of the first artworks, that a student is introduced to, when taking a course in modern art, is Marcel Duchamp’s — Fountain.

The sophisticated, thoroughbred French artist, had landed on the shores of the land of opportunities, about two years back, in 1915. Back in Paris, he had been influenced by the photograph of the Flatiron building ( a 22-floor sky scrapper), by the famous New York photographer — Alfred Stieglitz, in a magazine. That had given him the kick to travel across the Atlantic.

Just having landed in New York, he had managed to be one of the co-founders of the Society of Independent Artists, which was meant to be a rebel group, against the mainstream conservative Art Establishment of the city and the country, as such.

While walking down one of the streets of NYC, a mischievous prank of an idea struck Duchamp!

He planned to send an entry to the “Independents Exhibition” in 1917, hosted by his own colleagues, in the Society of Independent Artists, and check if they actually stood by what they fought for — Independent Thinking in Art.

So, along with his two close friends ( another artist and an art collector), he walked in to a plumbing store — J.L.Mott Iron Works, in 118 Fifth Avenue, NYC, and bought a urinal.

Back in his studio, he flipped the urinal upside down ( with obvious sexual connotations … very typical of Duchamp), so you see it in an angle different from what you usually see it in, and then signed with a black marker — R.Mutt 1917. He then sent the urinal, as an entry to the Independents Exhibition.

Needless to say, it got a lot of rebuke, and got rejected. The judges ( his own colleagues), obviously did not get the joke, and thought it to be an ugly joke at them and their society. Most probably, they smashed it to pieces!

Duchamp, however, quickly managed to buy another urinal from the same shop, sign it with an R. Muut 1917, and this time got it photographed by the famous photographer — Alfred Stieglitz. The same Stieglitz who’s photograph of the Flatrion building, had earlier motivated Duchamp to move to New York, was now in his circle of friends. Stieglitz, owned a gallery as well, where this was displayed. The rest is history.

This is why it is so important to know the purpose and then the meaning behind more works of modern art. Unless you know the story behind, and the context, you really can’t appreciate it.

The art is not in the object, as such.

The art is in the context!!!

Q. Where did the “R. Mutt 1917” come from?

Duchamp’s purpose was of course to challenge an Establishment, that had been established to challenge another bigger more established Establishment.

His idea, was to keep thinking fluid and flexible, and to think with an open mind.

“It is not an artists job to make things look beautiful. We could leave that to the designers,” he said, “ An artists job is to make people think.”

The “Mutt”, in the signature has very close connection with the shop he bought the urinal from — J. L.Mott. It also has a reference to a daily comic strip “Mutt and Jeff”, which had been first published in the San Fransisco Chronicle in 1907. Mutt, in this comic strip, was shown a greedy, dim-witted character, who given to gambling and in to other get-rich-quick schemes. Duchamp was having a very subtle go at the greedy, speculative, art collectors and museum directors, who thought only a certain kind of art is good enough to gamble upon.

The “R”, perhaps comes from the French colloquial “ Richard”, which means a “moneybag”.

It all ties up together!!!!!

The satisfaction you get by knowing the context, and hence being able to scratch down the layers, and discover in depth, the philosophy that goes behind this visual 3D satire from Duchamp, is a far more enriching emotion ( at least for me), than merely staring at a fabulously painted portrait of rich man’s wife, smiling at you. And this is what sensible modern art is all about!

Readymades in my life, and my way of looking at art…

I believe in feeling art, rather than memorising it. In my circle of friends, are very knowledgeable people, who know most paintings in a museum, by heart. I don’t. I just immerse myself, when I feel for a work of art. What is worth sticks, the rest disappears. I don’t care.

Inspired by Duchamp, I planned to come up with my own version of a Ready-Made ( as Duchamp called them), in my house.

So I picked up this stray, plumbing pipe — a Y - joint, and managed to transform it in to a Knife and Scissors holder.

I have named it “Mr. & Mrs.”

And just like Duchamp signed his bicycle wheel on a stool, I plan to present mine as an idea “from” me, rather than an artwork “by” me.

The connotations are pretty obvious, and come from the old saying — “Two swords can not fit in one sheath”…with marriage being an exception!!!

Please don’t forget to read other episodes in the same series ( link shared below), and also share your own ready-mades in comments, if possible.