1. Marcel Duchamp
1917 – “Fountain”

3. “IT WAS UNEXPECTEDLY A RATHER BEAUTIFUL OBJECT IN ITS OWN RIGHT AND A BLINDINGLY BRILLIANT LOGICAL MOVE, CHECK-MATING ALL CONVENTIONAL IDEAS ABOUT ART. BUT IT WAS ALSO A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PRACTICAL JOKE.”
“DUCHAMP HAS BEEN COMPARED TO LEONARDO DA VINCI, AS A PROFOUND PHILOSOPHER-ARTIST. BUT THERE IS ALSO A COMPARISON TO BE MADE WITH BUSTER KEATON, ANOTHER HANDSOME DEADPAN CLOWN WHOM DUCHAMP SOMEWHAT RESEMBLED. HE VALUED HUMOUR, TELLING A NEW YORK NEWSPAPER THAT, ‘PEOPLE TOOK MODERN ART VERY SERIOUSLY WHEN IT FIRST REACHED AMERICA BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED WE TOOK OURSELVES VERY SERIOUSLY. A GREAT DEAL OF MODERN ART IS MEANT TO BE AMUSING.’”