Kevin Weachter November 14, 2010 Art 106 The Fountain and The Treachery of Images The Fountain

was created by Marcel Duchamp in 1917. It has always been a very controversial work. This is because it is a readymade. The piece is a urinal set on its back, then with R. Mutt 1917 printed on it. This began the discussion of what art really is. Rene Magritte furthered this argument in 1928 with his creation of The Treachery of Images. The Treachery of Images was an oil on canvas painting of a pipe with words under it saying This is not a pipe. Both of these paintings questioned what art is, in different ways. The Fountain was controversial for obvious reasons. It was an everyday object with little altercation and presenting it as a piece of artwork. Duchamp knew this work would be controversial when he made it. This is shown by the fact he didnt write his own name on this work. He wanted to push the boundaries of art, and wanted people to question what the qualifications of art were. Duchamp wanted to show anything could be art. It didnt have to be a masterpiece that took a lot of hard work and talent to create. It could be anything. He wanted to do this in the most extreme way possible, taking a urinal and doing little to it besides changing perspective. He also wanted to see the reactions of people towards it. When he first created the Fountain, he submitted it into an art show, where everything would be displayed, yet this piece was not. Many people find this work insulting because of the fact he didnt do anything create it, but what gets most people is that it took no talent to do and they think art must take talent. The Treachery of Images wasnt nearly as controversial as that of the Fountain. It was just a painting of a pipe with the words this is not a pipe under it in French. Magritte wrote that to be ironic

in saying it is not an actual pipe, but a representation of it. He questioned what art was in a different way than that of Duchamp. Duchamp did it in a far more radical way. Magritte discretely questioned what makes a piece of work, art. He called his work art, and it was simply a pipe. It was not a beautiful landscape or a portrait of someone. It was a pipe. Magritte did something unlike most with his painting though. He emphasized the fact that this was a representation of a pipe. He wanted to aware everybody the concept of perception. These arts were both from the Dada era, which challenged old art and lead to a rapid change in art. Both of these artists had everyday objects as there pieces of work. Duchamps was simply the object, while Magrittes was a painting of the object. Either way they both questioned what is art. They both supplied stipulations to the qualifications of art. They also both focused on the perspective of their art. Duchamp used solely perspective in his piece and Magritte made a point to emphasize it.