Marcel Duchamp's Impact On Twenty-Century Art

Marcel Duchamp made a huge impact on twenty-century art. Duchamp shayed away from conventional methods of making art and developed a new type of art called “readymade”. According to the textbook, “His invention in 1913 of the “readymade,” defined by the Surrealist André Breton as “manufactured objects promoted to the dignity of art through the choice of the artist” (Arnason 220). Duchamp stated, “His selection of common “found” objects was guided by complete visual indifference, or “anaesthesia” and the total absence of good or bad taste” (Arnason 220). Some common found objects were a bicycle wheel, kitchen stool, bottle rack, and many more items. In Duchamp’s day, art could be made out of anything and composed with little to none alterations. Duchamp’s assisted readymades were accomplished by putting two or more readymades together. This takes away their functional use, but adds to the purpose of the two objects. Some readymades moved, which allowed Duchamp to use them for amusement, creating meaning from the different pieces and movements. One of his assisted readymades was the Bicycle Wheel. This was a metal wheel mounted of a painted wooden stool and was the …show more content…
The most controversial piece was Fountain. Duchamp had submitted Fountain, a shifted porcelain urinal to the 1917 exhibition of the New York Society of Independent Artist. This urinal was signed “R. Mutt” which turns out to be a pun on the pluming fixture manufacturer J. L. Mott Iron Works. This exhibition was open submission but Duchamp’s Fountain was rejected. “The Richard Mutt Case” stated that this piece of art wasn’t art because it was a plain piece of plumbing and immoral. In the eyes of Duchamp, he rotated so that it was unusable which is the key feature of a