Editing Dada (section)

===New York===
[[File:Label for the Belle Haleine cropped.png|thumb|upright|[[Rrose Sélavy]], the alter ego of Dadaist [[Marcel Duchamp]]]]
[[File:Marcel Duchamp, 1917, Fountain, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.jpg|thumb|[[Marcel Duchamp]], ''[[Fountain (Duchamp)|Fountain]],'' 1917; photograph by [[Alfred Stieglitz]]]]
{{Main|New York Dada}}

Like Zürich, New York City was a refuge for writers and artists from the First World War. Soon after arriving from France in 1915, [[Marcel Duchamp]] and [[Francis Picabia]] met American artist [[Man Ray]]. By 1916 the three of them became the center of radical [[anti-art]] activities in the United States. American [[Beatrice Wood]], who had been studying in France, soon joined them, along with [[Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven]]. [[Arthur Cravan]], fleeing conscription in France, was also in New York for a time. Much of their activity centered in [[Alfred Stieglitz]]'s gallery, [[291 (art gallery)|291]], and the home of [[Walter and Louise Arensberg]].

The New Yorkers, though not particularly organized, called their activities ''Dada,'' but they did not issue manifestos. They issued challenges to art and culture through publications such as ''[[The Blind Man]]'', ''[[Rongwrong]]'', and ''New York Dada'' in which they criticized the traditionalist basis for ''museum'' art. New York Dada lacked the disillusionment of European Dada and was instead driven by a sense of irony and humor. In his book ''Adventures in the arts: informal chapters on painters, vaudeville and poets'' [[Marsden Hartley]] included an essay on "[[s:The Importance of Being Dada|The Importance of Being 'Dada']]{{Thin space}}".

During this time Duchamp began exhibiting "[[Readymades of Marcel Duchamp|readymades]]" (everyday objects found or purchased and declared art) such as a bottle rack, and was active in the [[Society of Independent Artists]]. In 1917 he submitted the now famous ''[[Fountain (Duchamp)|Fountain]]'', a urinal signed R.&nbsp;Mutt, to the Society of Independent Artists exhibition but they rejected the piece. First an object of scorn within the arts community, the ''Fountain'' has since become almost canonized by some<ref name="Independent">[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/fountain-most-influential-piece-of-modern-art-673625.html, ''Fountain' most influential piece of modern art''], Independent, December 2, 2004. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124013046/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/fountain-most-influential-piece-of-modern-art-673625.html |date=2020-01-24 }}</ref> as one of the most recognizable modernist works of sculpture. Art world experts polled by the sponsors of the 2004 [[Turner Prize]], Gordon's gin, voted it "the most influential work of modern art".<ref name="Independent" /><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4059997.stm "Duchamp's urinal tops art survey"], [[BBC News]] December&nbsp;1, 2004. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509234934/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4059997.stm |date=2020-05-09 }}</ref>

As recent scholarship documents, the work is still controversial. Duchamp indicated in a 1917 letter to his sister that a female friend was centrally involved in the conception of this work: "One of my female friends who had adopted the pseudonym Richard Mutt sent me a porcelain urinal as a sculpture."<ref>Duchamp, Marcel, translated and quoted in {{harvnb|Gammel|2002|p=224}}</ref> The piece is in line with the scatological aesthetics of Duchamp's neighbour, the [[Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven|Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven]].{{sfn|Gammel|2002|pp=224–225}} In an attempt to "pay homage to the spirit of Dada" a performance artist named [[Pierre Pinoncelli]] made a crack in a replica of ''The Fountain'' with a hammer in January 2006; he also urinated on it in 1993.

Picabia's travels tied New York, Zürich and Paris groups together during the Dadaist period. For seven years he also published the Dada periodical ''[[391 (magazine)|391]]'' in Barcelona, New York City, Zürich, and Paris from 1917 through 1924.

By 1921, most of the original players moved to Paris where Dada had experienced its last major incarnation.