This thesis examines how Marcel Duchamp's artwork Fountain has been reproduced and evaluated over time. The original piece was made in 1917 and was lost soon after it was created. Fountain has become renowned through its representations, descriptions, and copies and replicas of various scale; consequently, any later artistic critique was directed at the reproductions, rather than the original piece. Considering the fact that the original no longer exists, Fountain's reproductions somewhat reflect the artistic aura of the original, especially when Duchamp was personally involved in their creation. Fountain's reproductions may be viewed as originally (re-)produced artworks on their own. This thesis studies the processes of artistic evaluation applied to Fountain's reproductions. Fountain is a special example for the following reasons: When it first appeared in 1917, it openly posed the question of whether objects mass-produced by manufacture can be given artistic value. Moreover, since Fountain's artistic evaluation has been attributed to the reproductions, Fountain extends the question of attributing artistic value to reproduced objects, to artistic value attributed to reproduced art, in turn also raising questions about the relationship between original and copy.
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