‘The concept of art, and the course of art history, was irreversible changed as a consequence’ (of ‘Fountain’) (Podstolski) He changed the ideas about the traditional nature of art when he entered his work Fountain in 1919 using the name Mr R. Mutt to the Society of Independent Artists Exhibition, New York. It was refused entry, but Duchamp argued the case – ‘Whether Mr Mutt with his own hands made the Fountain or not… he CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that it’s useful significance disappeared under a new title and point of view – (he) created a new thought for that object.’
His ‘ready-mades’ lead to new possibilities such as non-art materials and ideas about the conceptual basis of artworks. Society began accept these new materials and ideas about art which helped Robert Rauschenberg create is Combines, which was his term for his technique of attaching cast-off items, such as tires or old furniture, to a traditional support. ‘Bed’ is one of Rauschenberg’s first Combines and is a well-worn pillow, sheet, and quilt, scribbled on them with pencil, and splashed them with paint, in a style reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism. These bedclothes are supposably Rauschenberg’s own, thus making this as personal as a self-portrait, or more so – a quality consistent with Rauschenberg’s statements, “painting relates to both are and life… (I try to act in that gap between the two).
The Pop Art movement and the work of Andy Warhol were arguable prefigured and enabled by the Conceptual Art of Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp observed: ‘What is interesting about Warhol is not the retinal image of the man who paints 50 soup cans, but of the man who has the idea to paint 50 soup cans.’ With the ‘Readymades,’ Duchamp radically destabilised notions of what are is and, in raising the mass