Who Really Made Duchamp's Fountain | New York City News

New York City News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now! · Jul 6, 2026 · 1m

MoMA’s blockbuster Fountain exhibit is sparking a major art history scandal: new evidence suggests Marcel Duchamp may not have created the iconic 1917 urinal after all. A letter found posthumously hints that his female friend, Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, submitted it under the pseudonym “R. Mutt”—a name now linked to her handwriting and Philadelphia origins, not Duchamp’s. Art historian Glyn Thompson’s research challenges decades of accepted narrative, forcing us to rethink authorship, gender, and the very foundations of modern art. While MoMA sticks to Duchamp’s legacy, the…