OT:Fine Arts Afficionados: Duchamp's *Urinal* Wins Art Poll
nan
awards.
This "art poll" belongs in the urinal.
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NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR EXPATS IN FRANCE - 3 DECEMBER 2004
www.expatica.com
Duchamp's urinal douses rivals in British art poll
LONDON, Dec 2 (AFP) - In a result that probably confirms many
sceptics' prejudices about modern art, a 1917 men's urinal has been
voted the most influential artwork of the 20th century in a poll of
the great and good of Britain's art world.
The white porcelain urinal was mounted upside down in a New York
Gallery by French artist Marcel Duchamp, who in one of the very
earliest examples of conceptualism, declared it was art simply because
he stated this was so.
According to the survey of 500 movers and shakers in British art, the
work, called "Fountain", is more important that anything produced by
the likes of Picasso and Matisse.
Duchamp's work was the overwhelming winner of the poll, undertaken
ahead of next week's annual Turner Prize, Britain's leading modern art
award, British newspapers reported on Thursday.
In second place came Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" of
1907, regarded by many as the origin point of modern art, with Andy
Warhol's iconic pop art screen prints of Marilyn Monroe from 1962
third.
"The choice of Duchamp's Fountain as the most influential work of
modern art ahead of works by Picasso and Matisse comes as a bit of a
shock," admitted Simon Wilson, a British art expert hired by the poll
organisers to explain the results.
"But it reflects the dynamic nature of art today and the idea that the
creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important
thing - the work itself can be made of anything and can take any
form."
Even without such polls, the often unorthodox works honoured by the
Turner Prize tend to launch an annual debate in British newspapers as
to what is, or is not, art.
Among the nominees this year are a pair of artists who digitally
recreated Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden's former home in Afghanistan.
Last year's winner, Grayson Perry, was typically attention-grabbing: a
burly man with a fondness for oversized party dresses and pigtails,
his delicate ceramic vases are decorated with often disturbing scenes.
The Daily Telegraph, often a despairing conservative voice on arts
matters, was unsurprised at Duchamp's victory in the poll.
"In this strange world where babies are made in test tubes and people
pay to drink water in restaurants, the result is perhaps not all that
astonishing," its arts correspondent sighed wearily.
In the poll, "Guernica", Picasso's Spanish Civil War masterpiece of
1937, was voted fourth, followed by "The Red Studio" by Henri Matisse,
from 1911.
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Alan Hope
>I've been a member on several judging panels for Fine Arts scholarship
>awards.
Yeahright. Sure you have.
--
AH
nan
You just want to discredit my knowledge of Fine Arts and Art History
because I am not an elite political pseudo-liberal clone parroting the
pseudo-liberal partylines and "worldview."
Undoubtedly, urinals reflect your asthetic sensitivity, Sir Urous.
from Nan
spooge
news:8f49fa86.04120...@posting.google.com:
> Alan Hope <not.al...@mail.com> wrote in message
> news:<5fg1r0ttge0k5cjou...@4ax.com>...
>> nan goes:
>>
>> >I've been a member on several judging panels for Fine Arts
>> >scholarship awards.
>>
>> Yeahright. Sure you have.
>
> You just want to discredit my knowledge of Fine Arts and Art History
Nobody has to do that for you, you do it for yourself, Nanny.
--
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