With the 1917 original “smashed and trashed,” the editions and replicas of the ’50s and ’60s accounted for at museums and private collection of rich guys, there are some “rogue” R. Mutt urinals out there. Duchamp’s Dadaist “Fountain,” once replicated and peddled by dealer Arturo Schwarz, have popped up in Basel and Buenos Aires, and the artist’s estate is calling bullshit.
One of the real, authorized urinals, once valued at $2-2.5K was weaseled from Duchamp by Warhol and later bought by for $65,750 by construction tycoon Dakis Joannou, who has just fisted the New Museum full of his hoarded luxury art items. The ceramic piss pot now worth $1.8M is not on display, probably because it doesn’t fit the theme of… wagging genitalia?
As for the unauthorized “Fountains” that the estate declares ready-made frauds, they’re being shown in Italy. Schwarz himself is trying to sell one for $2.5M. Duchamp’s widow is confused over his actions, as “Arturo was a great friend of Marcel.” |Economist|
