What are the first words that come to mind when you look at Duchamp’s Fountain? Why these words? What kind of object has Duchamp chosen for his work of art? What has he done to transform it from a practical object into a work of art? Was he successful? Why or why not?

Duchamp was one of the first artists to produce art that focused more on ideas than on the artist’s technical skill. What ideas does his sculpture of a manufactured object express? Think about the way in which the placement of an object in a different context or environment can change the way you experience it. Does the location and manner in which Duchamp has positioned the urinal change the way you see and understand it?

Duchamp once said, “The only works of art America has given are her plumbing and her bridges.”* What do you think he meant by this? How do you think Fountain relates to Duchamp’s views about American art? What objections might people have had to this sculpture when it was first exhibited? Would they have similar objections today? How would you respond to these objections?

*Quoted in Calvin Tomkins, Marcel Duchamp: A Biography. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996, p. 185.

Marcel Duchamp (French, 1887–1968) Marcel Duchamp moved to the United States from France in 1915. In New York, he encountered works of art by American modernists—artists whose work focused on the creation of abstract shapes, evocative color, and new ideas inspired by contemporary life. Duchamp had strong opinions about art and about American art in particular. For example, he criticized American artists for creating works that did not address what he believed were the most exciting things happening at the time in America—the construction of skyscrapers and the creation of new types of machinery. Duchamp also thought that American artists relied too heavily on the artistic conventions of their European counterparts. He wanted them to create works of art that were uniquely American.

Duchamp’s own sculpture challenged traditional ideas about art and art making. He produced “readymades,” manufactured objects such as a coat rack and a shovel that he redefined as works of art and exhibited in museum or gallery settings. Fountain is an actual urinal that Duchamp placed on a pedestal rather than attaching it to a wall as its usage intended. He then signed it with a fictitious name, “R. Mutt.” Fountain embodies many of the ideals Duchamp expressed about American art. As a factory-made object, it reflects the industrialized society he associated with America.

In 1917 Duchamp tried to include Fountain as part of an exhibition organized by the Society for Independent Artists, which displayed works of art by the most avantgarde, or progressive, artists. Although the exhibition was supposedly open to all artists, Duchamp’s piece was nevertheless rejected.

Think about the forms in Georgia O’Keeffe’s From the Lake No. 1. What words come to mind? Is the artist’s subject matter immediately recognizable to you? How has O’Keeffe represented the landscape? Which elements are abstracted or distorted in some way? Are some parts of the landscape more important than others? Why? How has O’Keeffe captured the weather and time of day in her painting? Describe how she has conveyed movement and energy through her use of form and color.

How is O’Keeffe’s subject matter different from Duchamp’s? Based on what you see in the two works of art, how do their approaches to art differ? Despite these differences, can you find any similar forms in the sculpture and painting?

Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887–1986)
Georgia O’Keeffe was one of the artists who exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz’s “291,” an art gallery that promoted the work of the most avant-garde American artists. The only woman in the group, O’Keeffe painted in a personal and sometimes highly sensual style that frequently referenced her gender. She found her inspiration in the American landscape and created paintings based on her observations and experiences.

The natural surroundings of her home on Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains in New York are the subject of From the Lake No. 1, and the painting is filled with organic forms that evoke this environment. While the title of this work suggests that it is representational (meaning that it depicts a recognizable scene), the forms of the painting are abstract—distorted, altered, or exaggerated in some way. Instead of articulating each detail of the landscape, O’Keeffe has focused on the elements that were most important to her. In From the Lake No. 1 the artist has painted clouds and swirling forms below them that may represent other elements of the landscape, such as the lake, but the forms are generalized enough that they defy precise identification. For example, is the light blue area on the bottom right of the painting part of the sky or part of the lake? Are the curvilinear forms at the bottom of the painting mountains or merely abstractions that do not represent anything in particular? O’Keeffe’s forms, as well as her color palette—purple, yellow, pale blue, and white—are evocative, expressive, and mysterious, allowing room for different interpretations.