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exhibition bristled at the title “Nude Descending. . . .”

They were also taken aback by the painting’s subject

matter. (Up until then nudes either sat or reclined, they

didn’t walk in Cubist stop-motion fashion down flights

of stairs!) The show’s organizers appealed to

Duchamp’s two older brothers, both established artists,

to “manage” their younger sibling. For the sake of

family harmony, Duchamp withdrew his artwork from

consideration. But it must have rankled.

This time around in New York, Duchamp took another

tack. He and a companion retrieved “Fountain” from the

Society of Independent Artists’ storage area and

brought it to Alfred Stieglitz, an eminent American

photographer. They asked Stieglitz to photograph it.

They then reproduced the photograph in an avant-garde

journal titled The Blind Man published, not coincidental-

ly, by Duchamp and some friends. Accompanying the

photograph was an anonymous defense of the work

that read: