An Overview of the Seventeen Known Versions of Fountain

Version: 1917 original
Current Location: Lost / destroyed
Notes: Photographed by Alfred Stieglitz, at 291 Gallery, NY, in front of Marsden Hartley’s painting The Warriors. The Stieglitz photograph, reproduced here, was featured in the Dada journal, The Blind Man, 2 May 1917.

Version: 1950 New York Reproduction
Current Location: The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Notes: Duchamp was asked by art dealer Sidney Janis if he would sign a urinal for an exhibition at his New York gallery in 1950. Duchamp agreed, and signed a urinal that the gallerist bought at a Parisian flea market. Image shows the urinal installed (above a doorway and decorated with mistletoe!) at a later Dada exhibition at Sidney Janis Gallery organized by Duchamp in 1953. Gift of Mrs. Herbert Cameron Morris to Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1998.

Version: 1953 Paris Reproduction
Current Location: Unknown
Notes: Listed in the Duchamp catalogue raisonné (third revised and expanded edition, 1997), edited by Arturo Schwarz, as “selected for sale at auction to benefit a friend of Duchamp.” No other reference to this replica found in any other sources.
Image unavailable.

Version: 1963 Stockholm Reproduction
Current Location: Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Notes: Replica made by Ulf Linde with permission of Duchamp for exhibition at Galerie Burén, Stockholm, 1963. The urinal was originally “signed” in Duchamp’s absence using pre-fabricated block letters. Duchamp saw the replica when it was exhibited at Galerie Schwarz in Milan in 1964, at which time he signed it with enamel paint. Given to Moderna Museet in 1965 in accordance with Duchamp’s request (Photo courtesy Moderna Museet).

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction 1/8
Current Location: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Notes: First in an edition of eight fabricated in 1964 by gallerist Arturo Schwarz in Milan. Four additional replicas were made outside of the edition: one for Duchamp, one for Schwarz, two for museum exhibition purposes (I/II & II/II). A prototype was also made and preserved (though it is not listed in the catalogue raisonné). 1/8 purchased by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through a gift of Phyllis Wattis, 1998.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction 2/8
Current Location: Tate Modern, London
Notes: Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery, 1999.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction 3/8
Current Location: National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Notes: Purchased in 1971.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction 4/8
Current Location: Private Collection
Notes: Sold to a private collection by Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2002. (Photo courtesy Gagosian Gallery.)

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction 5/8
Current Location: Dimitri Daskalopoulos Collection
Notes: Sold at Sotheby’s, New York, on 17 November 1999 to Dimitri Daskalapoulos for $1,762,500, at the time a record for a work made by Duchamp. Image shows Fountain on the cover of the auction catalogue.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction 6/8
Current Location: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
Notes: Acquired in 1987 from Arturo Schwarz. (Photo courtesy The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.)

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction 7/8
Current Location: Dina Vierny Foundation— Maillol Museum, Paris
Notes: Photograph reproduced here appeared in Marcel Duchamp et ses frères (Paris: Dina Vierny Gallery, 1988). Note that the image is printed in reverse.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction 8/8
Current Location: Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington
Notes: Partial gift to the Indiana University Art Museum, 1971. Photograph of Fountain installed at the museum.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction: Artist’s proof made for Duchamp outside of the edition
Current Location: National Museum of Modern Art, Pompidou Center, Paris
Notes: Purchased by National Museum of Modern Art, Pompidou Center, 1986. Object of Pierre Pinoncelli’s actions, 1993 and 2006.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction: Artist’s proof made for Arturo Schwarz outside of the edition
Current Location: Sold at auction; identity of purchaser not disclosed by auction house
Notes: Sold at auction at Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, New York, 13 May 2002. Image shows Fountain on view at Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, 2002.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction: I/II made for exhibition purposes outside of the edition
Current Location: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Notes: Donated to the Israel Museum on the occasion of Duchamp retrospective, 1972. Photograph of installation view from the exhibition “Surrealism and Beyond,” 2007. (Photo courtesy the Israel Museum. Photo Einat Arif-Galanti.)

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction: II/II made for exhibition purposes outside of the edition
Current Location: National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome
Notes: Gift of Arturo Schwarz, 1997.
Image unavailable.

Version: 1964 Milan Reproduction: Prototype
Current Location: The Dakis Joannou Collection
Notes: Sold by Ronald Feldman Gallery to Andy Warhol in January 1973. Sold at auction to Dakis Joannou Collection in 1988.

Special thanks to Madeline Hollander for her research on the history of Fountain replicas, and to Séverine Gossart, Ronald Feldman, and Francis Naumann for their assistance and expertise.

For an update on the known versions of Fountain, see this article in The Economist.

For Leland de la Durantaye's piece on Pierre Pinoncelli and the legacy of Duchamp's “fountains,” from issue 27, see here.