Finding The (Wo)man Behind the Infamous Urinal Fountain

Marcel Duchamp created a poster Wanted: $2,000 Reward in 1923 in New York. Two headshots of himself, description of physical attributes, and an eye-catching note: "Known also under name Rrose Sélavy."

Duchamp's radical artistic skills were out and about in the world when he created the porcelain urinal Fountain but his mustachioed Mona Lisa, entitled L.H.O.O.Q (roughly translated as "she horny") challenged the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm.

He was amongst the few artists of his generation openly talking about gender fluidity and gender deception.

In 1920, he created Fresh Widow out of a French Window. Fascinated by themes of sights and perception; with the help of a carpenter, a miniature French window was created. Windows had an important place in the artist's work.

He stated, "I used the idea of the window to take a point of departure, as…I used a brush, or I used a form, a specific form of expression…. I could have made 20 windows with a different idea in each one…."

A minute rearrangement of alphabets and wordplay transformed "French Window" into "Fresh Widow", which was a reference to the widows of World War 1 fighters.

This artwork again specified Rrose Sélavy inscribed at the base- "COPYRIGHT ROSE SELAVY 1920" (later spelled Rrose)

A formal debut of Rrose Sélavy in the creative world.

Who's who - Unraveling Rrose Sélavy

Rrose Sélavy was Duchamp's "female alter ego" - another version of himself.

An interviewer asked Duchamp: "What does Rrose Sélavy mean?"

Duchamp replied: "In 1920, I decided, it wasn't enough to be one individual with a masculine name. I wanted to change my name, to change for the readymades I created, especially to make another personality of myself."

Duchamp's eccentric personality and inclination towards gender deception and androgyny might have triggered him to create Rrose Sélavy - an alter ego that he used to diversify his creative license and to express certain things, he might not have done better with his masculinity.

Contemporaries like Beyonce introduced Sasha Fierce as her alter ego. She says, "That moment when you're nervous and that other thing(alter ego) kind of takes over for you."

Duchamp's Rrose Sélavy got an extra 'R' when he autographed Cacodylic Eye by Francis Picabia. He derived the name Rrose Sélavy from the French saying: "éros, c'est la vie", which means "the sex drive is life."

Man Ray, the most celebrated photographer in 20th-century conceptual art photographed Duchamp and created a sensual Portrait of Rrose Sélavy. The photograph shows an elusive facial expression, subtle eyes, and an attractive hat.

Why Not Sneeze Rose Sélavy?

This art piece consists of a small birdcage containing a thermometer, a cuttlefish bone, and one hundred and fifty-two marble cubes that look like sugar cubes.

On the underside of the cage, the title and date of the work are mentioned, with each word placed on a separate line:

WHY

NOT

SNEEZE

ROSE

SELAVY? 

1921

During a French television interview in 1963, Duchamp tried to explain the title of this art piece -

'You don't sneeze at will; you usually sneeze in spite of your will. So the answer to the question "Why not sneeze?" is simply that you can't sneeze at will!'

Final thoughts

Duchamp's art might be kitsch or aesthetically unacceptable for many but he left an indelible impact in the field of Cubism, Dadaism, and the development of conceptual art.

Duchamp believed that artists often get trapped to please an immediate public that comes around them and accepts them. But if you wait for your public that comes around 50 or 100 years after your death, that's the right public.

I guess he wasn't wrong.

References-

1. "Wanted: $2,000 Reward" by Marcel Duchamp

2. Why Not Sneeze Rose Sélavy?

3. Rrose Sélavy, Man Ray (1921)

4. The Artist You Didn't Know You Knew - Rrose Selavy