Marcel Duchamp.

Marcel Duchamp was the fourth of four children born to Lucie Duchamp and Justin Isidore Eugène Duchamp. His siblings — Raymond Duchamp Villon, Jacques Villon, and Suzanne Duchamp — all became artists. He studied at Lycée Pierre-Corneille in Rouen, the Académie Julian in Paris, and the École des chartes, focusing on library science.

In 1917, Marcel Duchamp submitted a urinal signed R.Mutt to the first exhibition of the American Society of Independent Artists at the Armory Show in New York. The work, which became known as Fountain, was rejected despite payment of the entry fee, prompting debate over what constitutes art. Duchamp appeared in the 1924 film Entr’acte, playing chess against Man Ray. He also appeared in Witch’s Cradle 1944, 8 x 8: A Chess-Sonata in 8 Movements 1957, Dadascope 1962, and Uncertain Verification 1965.

Marcel Duchamp married Lydie Sarazin Levassor on June 8, 1927; the marriage ended in December of that year. He married Alexina Duchamp on January 16, 1954, and they remained together until his death in 1968. He had one child, a daughter named Yo Savy. His siblings, painter Jacques Villon and sculptor Raymond Duchamp Villon, were also artists, and he collaborated with his sister Suzanne Duchamp.

Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain remains a landmark in 20th-century art, challenging traditional notions of authorship and aesthetics. The 1917 submission is considered a precursor to conceptual art, and his readymades redefined what could be considered art.