Title: Fountain
Artist: Marcel Duchamp
Date: 1964 (original 1917)
Period/Culture: Dada period
Location: (1964 versions) Indiana University,
San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art,
National Gallery of Canada,
Centre Georges Pompidou, Tate Modern
Scale/Size: 15 in. x 19 1/4 in. x 24 5/8 in.
Patron: n/a
Materials: Ceramic, paint
Technique: Glazed the ceramic and
painted some of it black
Subject Matter/Content:
This piece consists of a white urinal on its side with the name “R. Mutt” painted in black on it. The urinal is on its side to depict the upside-down world Duchamp was living in at the time he produced Fountain.
Symbolism Used (Iconography):
Beside the idea that the world Duchamp was living in was “upside-down” (living in WWI) and therefore the idea that one of life’s most ordinary and unartistic objects was even turn on its side in the tumult the world was experiencing, there is even a more iconic idea that Duchamp depicted. Duchamp had taken a toilet and called it art, and therefore asked the world “what constitutes as art?”
Contextual Issues Relevant to Work:
The conflict of the question Duchamp introduced was an issue for Duchamp, the piece, and art as a whole. Duchamp submitted Fountain to an exhibition, but it wasn’t included in the show because the people who conducted it didn’t consider it art. To the world of viewers of art, it was inane and grotesque to see a urinal be called a “work of art”, but to some artists it made them question if someone could make anything art. It was one of the leading pieces of art in the Dada movement—an art movement that was majorly anti-art—because it asked people if anything could be made art if you look at it through a different perspective.
Formal Qualities of this Work:
— The piece is on it’s side to suggest that even the most everyday object, like a urinal, has been turned on its side in the utter confusion of WWI
— “R. Mutt” might be an allusion to the name of the company that provided the urinal Duchamp used
Intended Audience of the Work:
The intended audience of this work was the rest of the world who was suffering from the chaos of WWI. Also it was the artists who had become bored with the repetitive subjects of art
Related Themes:
— What is art?
— Anti-war
— Chaos
Related Works:
— Bottle Rack by Marcel Duchamp
— Kurt Schwitters’ collages
Title: Olympia
Artist: Edouard Manet
Date: 1863
Period/Culture: Realism,
Victorian, Nude
Location: Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Scale/Size: 51.4 in × 74.8 in
Patron: n/a
Materials: Canvas
Technique: Oil
Subject Matter/Content:
This piece consists of a woman, who is presumably a prostitute or a “demi-mondaine” according to features of her dress, who is lying on a bed and looking directly at the painter/viewer. An African-American maid brings to her flowers to her from, presumably, a customer. A black cat, which is an archaic symbol for prostitution, stands at the end of the bed.
Symbolism Used (Iconography):
Olympia—which is the name of the prostitute (we don’t know for sure but we can assume)—is staring directly at the viewer/painter, as if you have just walked in the door as her customer and have caught her attention. It was Olympia’s stare that caused the conflict that erupted when Olympia was first shown. With her stare she exhibited the stark reality of a prostitute and you had to face the reality of it with her.
Contextual Issues Relevant to Work:
When Olympia was painted, it was irregular to portray a woman in the way Manet portrayed Olympia. Women were historically sexualized as a goddess of love like in Titian’s Venus of Urbino or glorified as a mother or faithful wife like in Raphael’s Madonnas, but Manet painted a flawed woman showing her sexual liberty and the reality of her occupation as a prostitute. This painting that was suddenly not according to the standards of female nudes caused an outcry in the world of art and called “grotesque” and “immoral” by some.
Formal Qualities of this Work:
— Olympia’s hand is pressed over her legs to show her sexual liberty in being ably to deny or accept sex
— Her position mimics the positions of classical Aphrodites, but the way she was painted (with quick brushstrokes and under harsh lighting) was not meant to seduce or entice viewers
— She looks directly at the painter/viewer, as if she is looking at you
— She ignores the gift from her client
Intended Audience of the Work:
Possibly those who are bored of painting women in the same style and want to introduce realism to the world of art—where you paint average people as they are.
Related Themes:
— The sexual liberty of women
— Common people
— Women in society
Related Works:
— Titian’s Venus of Urbino
— Giorgine’s Sleeping Venus
— Goya’s La maja desnuda
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