Tate Modern in London: the stars of the permanent collection...

4:12 p.m.

03/14/16 - "Fountain" is Marcel Duchamp's (France, 1887-1968) most famous ready-made (a daily-life object elevated to the category of a work of art) and one of the most influential artworks of the 20th Century: it defied the concept of what can be considered as art.

The object showed no sign of being unique, nor of having been made by the artist himself. The original Fountain, lost today, was a porcelain urinal signed by Duchamp with the pseudonym “R. Mutt 1917” and the artist bought it at a store.

Fountain, by Marcel Duchamp (1917)

Replica done in 1964 - Porcelain

Man Ray (USA, 1890-1976) transformed a clothing iron into a useless object by adding nails to its base. The original version of the piece was given to composer Erik Satie and was then lost. However, the artwork stood the test of time thanks to the photos the artist took of it. Done in Paris during the Dada period, "Cadeau" anticipated surrealism.

Cadeau, by Man Ray (1921)

Replica done in 1972 - Iron and nails

In 1930, Barbara Hepworth (UK, 1903-1975) and her husband Ben Nicholson were part of London's artistic avant-garde. Right before the war, they moved to Cornwall with their children. In her works we see circles and spheres, abstract shapes inspired by Nature. In the case of Oval Sculpture, the circles were replaced by ovals, giving place to a very interesting inside.

Oval Sculpture (No. 2), by Barbara Hepworth (1943)

Plaster and wooden base.

The following photo belongs to Joseph Beuys (Germany, 1921-1986) and it was used in an exhibition the artist presented in Naples in 1901. Beuys is posing as one of the subjects of Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo in the work "The Forth Estate". This iconic work of 1901 was influenced by the early socialist ideals. Buys defies the viewer with a close-up, claiming that revolutions begin inside ourselves.

The Revolution is Us, by Joseph Beuys (1972)

All the works we presented here today are iconic of the art of the 20th Century and they outlined what we would be seeing in today's Contemporary Art.