Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain: A Controversial Art (Essay Sample)
Although controversial art is not a topic exclusive to the 20th and 21st centuries, the distribution of information regarding controversial art has increased with the proliferation of media. Choose an example of a controversial work of art from the 20th or 21st centuries from any discipline of the humanities (music, literature, sculpture, film, television, etc.). Then, address the following:
Identify the work and the medium.
Based on your example, to what extent does this work of controversial art make a social contribution?
What aesthetic value does the work have? How does it reflect the human condition? How does it relate to your life?
Has this work ever been censored? If so, explain the circumstances.
Are governments ever justified in censoring art? Why or why not?
Examine some of the influences of this work of art.
Argue whether or not this work should be considered art. Explain why using terms learned in this course.
Include an accompanying statement from the artist(s) and a statement from a critic to support your points.
Controversial Art and Censorship
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* Identify the work and the medium.
For this paper, the controversial artwork identified is Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain of 1917
* Based on your example, to what extent does this work of controversial art make a social contribution?
Based on Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, it is evident that it led to the world to appreciate that anything that a person has made with their own hands is art whether or not it has any importance.
* What aesthetic value does the work have? How does it reflect the human condition? How does it relate to your life?
Duchamp’s Fountain has is aesthetically indifferent. In other words it is aesthetically neutral. Duchamp himself implied that he came with this aesthetically indifferent work of art to send the message that human life should never be dictated by aesthetic delectation. It relates to my life in that while I appreciate artwork, I have always been inclined to love ‘ready-mades’ turned into art because they provide and oeuvre of tremendous intellectual rigor.
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