“THAT VERY FUNNY ARTICLE,” POLLYPERRUQUE, AND THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF DUCHAMP’S FOUNTAIN

Abstract

Within half a century, the status of Duchamp’s readymades changed from iconoclastic object to iconic sculpture. This contribution focusses on two of Duchamp’s readymades, one from 1915 and thus dated at the very beginning of Duchamp’s occupation with this subject matter, while the other is dated 1967, the very last object to enter this particular category within Duchamp’s oeuvre. André Breton remarked that “future generations can do no less than make a systematic effort to go back the stream of Duchamp’s thought and carefully describe its meanderings in search of the hidden treasure which was his mind.” It is with these suggestions in mind that, after the examination of an heretofore unknown readymade from the 1910’s and his collage Pollyperruque from the year before he passed away, final observations will examine the 100th anniversary of Duchamp’s Fountain to reassess the readymade’s potential as an analog object and social media phenomenon in the digital realm.