In 1917 a belief surrounded the art world, one that came from the Dadaist movement. This belief was that art should be
created, or considered for only art's sake. This was largly due to the commercializing of art itself. The creation of readymades
(taking an object, changing one small aspect, and calling it art) was popular for the time frame. In 1917 the Society of Independant
Artists in New York decided to hold an exhibition, one that was open to any, and to all artists, famous or not. They declared
that they would exhibit all work that was sumitted, thereby not passing judgement on what could or couldn't be considered
art. The catch was that they had to review the works before they went on display.
This is where that humor that is Duchamp comes into play. Duchamp was a board member of the Society of Independent Artists,
and to prove that they in fact wern't just going to allow any art to be shown reguardless of what it was, he submitted a
piece under the name R. Mutt, to hide his involvement with it, to their 1917 exhibition. He challeneged the conventional
ideals of what is or isn't art. After much debate by the board members (most of whom did not know Duchamp had submitted it)
about whether the piece was or was not art, his piece was ultimatly hidden from view behind a curtain. While I am not completly
sure as to how long the piece was shrouded behind the veil, after much debate, and hearing from the other board members of
how this piece mocked the art world, Duchamp finally came forward staking ownership over the piece.
Almost instantaneously was the cutrain pulled away and the piece now proclaimed a Marcel Duchamp and even touted by
the board members as being an inspiration to the art world. Marcel duchamp proved that the board members wern't doing as they
stated, allowing any and all art to be shown during this exhibit, and proving this with The fountain of 1917. Duchamp resigned from the board
after the exhibition. This is what I mean by the Humour that is Marcel Duchamp.
- This information was taken from Class notes between 2005 - 2006, under the teaching of Rosemary Vamous (cited in
the bibliography)
