The readymade changed the course of art in the 20th century, expanding it. Art became more conceptual. Readymades were the precursor to what is now considered conceptual art.
The name ‘Readymade’ is itself a readymade. The ‘ready-made’ around the turn of the 20th century indicated that something was manufactured, rather than handmade. The name of this newsletter could be considered a readymade of a readymade.
The most well-known readymade and possibly most important artwork of the 20th century is Fountain. The author of the work is purported to be Marcel Duchamp, although it’s been speculated that the original work was created by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. Regardless of who made the artwork, Duchamp staged the work—which was an important element of the artwork itself.
The above photo is by Alfred Stieglitz and is the only photograph of the original artwork, the original artwork having been lost. Officially, there are 17 replicas in existence located variously in places such as Philadelphia, London, Paris, Canada, and Stockholm. There are copies without an original—however, the artwork exists. It’s no longer an object but information and circulation.
A definition of ‘readymade’ given by MoMA is as follows:
A term coined by Marcel Duchamp in 1916 to describe prefabricated, often mass-produced objects isolated from their intended use and elevated to the status of art by the artist choosing and designating them as such. The term “assisted Readymade” refers to works of this type whose components have been combined or modified by the artist.
MoMA also has the following passages on its website which are insightful on the subject:
Seeking an alternative to representing objects in paint, Duchamp began presenting objects themselves as art. He selected mass-produced, commercially available, often utilitarian objects, designating them as art and giving them titles. “Readymades,” as he called them, disrupted centuries of thinking about the artist’s role as a skilled creator of original handmade objects. Instead, Duchamp argued, “An ordinary object [could be] elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the mere choice of an artist.”
The readymade also defied the notion that art must be beautiful. Duchamp claimed to have chosen everyday objects “based on a reaction of visual indifference, with at the same time a total absence of good or bad taste….” In doing so, Duchamp paved the way for Conceptual art—work that was “in the service of the mind,” as opposed to a purely “retinal” art, intended only to please the eye.
Fundamentally, a readymade is the re-presenting of an object and changing its context. By using commonplace objects, the artist is connected to the everyday world. This is in contrast with the idea that the Art world—and by extension the artist—is separate from the everyday world. Such a shift can be observed with the pop art movement where there was a flattening of ‘high’ and ‘low’. Andy Warhol made use of readymades, for example with his Brillo Boxes and images of the famous. Other artists who have used readymades are numerous, such as:
Jasper Johns
Gerhard Richter
Picasso
Jeff Koons
Damien Hirst
Tracy Emin
Man Ray
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Ai Weiwei
Meret Oppenheim
Richard Prince
Nam June Paik
Along with MoMA, the Tate is informative with regard to readymades:
The theory behind the readymade was explained in an anonymous editorial published in the May 1917 issue of avant-garde magazine The Blind Man run by Duchamp and two friends:
‘Whether Mr Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, and placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view—created a new thought for that object.’
There are three important points here: first, that the choice of object is itself a creative act. Secondly, that by cancelling the ‘useful’ function of an object it becomes art. Thirdly, that the presentation and addition of a title to the object have given it ‘a new thought’, a new meaning. Duchamp’s readymades also asserted the principle that what is art is defined by the artist. Choosing the object is itself a creative act, cancelling out the useful function of the object makes it art, and its presentation in the gallery gives it a new meaning. This move from artist-as-maker to artist-as-chooser is often seen as the beginning of the movement to conceptual art, as the status of the artist and the object are called into question. At the time, the readymade was seen as an assault on the conventional understanding not only of the status of art but its very nature.