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"Fountain"
avant la Lettre
by
Juan José Gurrola and Thomas Girst
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© 1999 Succession
Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris. Marcel Duchamp, Fountain,
1917 (Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz).
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In his as yet unpublished
article "Duchamp's New Leap," on Duchamp's Given, the
infrathin and the readymades, Juan José Gurrola draws our attention
to the following quotation in Norbert Elias' The Civilizing Process
of 1939 which we thought too amusing not to share with our readers.
The quote is taken from a letter written by Madame du Deffand to Madame
de Choiseul in 1768:
"I should
like to tell you, Dear grandmother, as I told the Grand Abbé, how
great was my surprise when a large bag from you was brought to me
at my bed yesterday morning. I hasten to open it, put in my hand
and find some green peas...and then a vase...that I quickly pull
out: itis a chamber pot. But of such beauty and magnificence, that
my people say in unison that it ought to be used as a sauce boat.
The chamber pot was on display the whole of yesterday evening and
was admired by everyone. The peas...till not one was left."
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Chamber Pot,
ca. 1750
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("Je voudrais,
chère grand'mamam, venir peindre, ainsi qu'au grand qu'au grand-abbé,
qu'elle fut ma surprise, quand hier matin on m'apporte, sur mon
lit, un grand sac de votre part. Je me hâte de l'ouvrir, j'y fourre
la main, j'y trouve des petits pois...et puis un vase...je le tire
bien vite: c'est un pot de chambre. Mais d'une beauté, d'une magnificence
telles, que mes gens tout d'une voix disent qu'il en fallait faire
un saucière. Le pot de chambre a été en représentation hier toute
la soirée et fit l'admiration de tout le monde. Les pois...furent
mangés sans qu'il en restât un seul.")
See Norbert Elias's
The Civilizing Process (Urizen: New York, 1978), pages 133-134,
279. The letter serves as an example for 'changes in attitude toward
the natural functions.'
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