Readymade
Posted at 8:21am on Friday, January 21st, 2005Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain has been named the most influential piece of modern art in a recent poll. Why is this interesting? Because in 1917 the ‘readymade‘ had never been heard of. This simple little pissoir is the Grandaddy of contemporary art and if it weren’t for Duchamp Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin (among many others) would be flipping burgers not driving Bentleys. It’s nice to see recognition of Duchamp’s place, although it’s ironic that only this week Charles Saatchi is rumoured to be starting to sell his BritArt in favour of paintings - just as BritArt’s founding father finally tops the polls ahead of his painting contemporaries.
