What Work Of Art Does 'Bottlerack' Refer To?

'The Bottlerack' is a work of art for which Marcel Duchamp is famous. Opinions vary, though, about whether it can be called a work of art.  The reason for this is that 'Bottlerack' was simply a manufactured bottlerack. Duchamp sent his sister to purchase it at a department store and asked her to sign his name on the bottom. He declared that the piece was thereby 'made remotely' by Marcel Duchamp.

The artist also presented a bicycle wheel, a shovel, and famously, a urinal as works of art. He called them 'readymades'. Unsurprisingly, these works received a lot of attention. It was a new idea to present a manufactured object as a work of art. Duchamp was making the point that even a machine-made bottlerack can be a work of art - it just depends on how it is framed.

In the early 1900's when Duchamp's work was exhibited in Paris and New York, it evoked strong reactions. Duchamp was often either scorned or celebrated. Today, with the popularity of installation art, Duchamp's work is not so shocking. Art historians acknowledge the impact of Duchamp's ideas on a whole range of art movements, including Dada, Fluxus, Minimalism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art and performance art.