MARCEL DUCHAMP. FOUNTAIN. 1917. READYMADE. HEIGHT: 60 CM. LOCATION UNKNOWN. PHOTO: ALFRED STIEGLITZ, NEW YORK, APRIL 1917. PRIVATE COLLECTION.
McBride (1867–1962), who also initially cast doubt on the sincerity of Duchamp’s statement, was the first to write about it. Viewed from today, McBride’s article draws attention, albeit indirectly, to an interesting commonality between R. Mutt’s Fountain and Eilshemius’s Supplication. The absurd, provocative, and altogether inappropriate sum demanded by Eilshemius for his painting was also reflected—ironically—in Duchamp’s signature “R. Mutt,” the abbreviation “R.” standing for “Richard”7— art is rich and hence valuable, or art is expensive and hence only for the rich. McBride wrote the following in the New York Sun on 15 April 1917: Marcel Duchamp, author of the famous “Nude Descending a Stairway,” which was such a great hit in the armory show, says that Miss Rice’s “Claire Twins” and a work called “Supplication” by Louis Eilshemius are two great paintings which the exhibition has called
105