Marcel Duchamp Fountain (1917)
Out of the endless historical artifacts to choose from, I went with Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917) readymade. Why did I choose this out of all the other beautiful works you might ask? Well, while I scanned through the survey list I remembered the infamous urinal that I learned about in a previous early 20th-century art class and how it opened up new ways of thinking in contemporary art.
I wanted to represent it in a similar way it was displayed in history seen in a photograph in newsprint. I thought the readymade could be best represented through a miniature clay sculpture replica much like the 17 others that exist. Once I had the shape I was satisfied with, I painted it over with white acrylic, added small details with black paint and sealed it with a gloss finish to convey the porcelain-like texture.
Alfred Stieglitz’s original photograph of the Fountain (left)
He bathed the object in soft light and propped it against the background of a Marsden Hartley painting that contained ogival forms echoing the urinal’s contours
The next step in the process was the composition of the photograph and layout of the spread. The photograph was taken under more dramatic lighting to mimic that of Alfred Stieglitz’s original photograph of the Fountain. I also took the photo from a lower angle to the ground to give the effect of a larger size. I placed an abstract painting in the background and position the sculpture atop a planter to look like it was on a plinth. Once again, I chose to portray it in historical-looking newsprint so I added a monochrome filter and strong grain to give it a vintage effect.
Original Before 
Edited After
Lastly, I oriented and aligned the written text about the artifact on the right-hand page in the style of newsprint to tie together the theme.
The verdict
I thoroughly enjoyed getting my hands messy with clay and being able to recreate the form of Duchamp’s readymade. I was satisfied with how the sculpture turned out and am happy about the theme that I chose to display the artifact. The only thing I would have changed is making the size of the text bigger as it can be hard to read if not zoomed in. With all that being said I would give myself a 9/10 for the research, effort and thought that went into making this project.
Works Cited:
https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=137220186&site=eds-live&scope=site
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-duchamps-urinal-changed-art-forever