Bruce Nauman

Self Portrait as a Fountain
1966–1967, printed 1970

Not on view

Date
1966–1967, printed 1970

Classification
Photographs

Medium
Chromogenic print

Dimensions
Sheet (sight): 20 1/16 × 23 15/16in. (51 × 60.8 cm) Image (sight): 19 1/2 × 23 1/4in. (49.5 × 59.1 cm)

Accession number
70.50.9

Series
Eleven Color Photographs

Edition
7/8

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase

Rights and reproductions
© Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

API
artworks/5714

Self-Portrait as a Fountain is one of Bruce Nauman’s Photographic Suite of eleven photographs based on puns. The portfolio reveals Bruce Nauman’s interest in the functions of language, as he humorously depicts literal interpretations of common phrases. In Self-Portrait as a Fountain, Nauman questions the traditional role of the artist. He depicts himself shirtless, with raised arms and open palms, spewing an arc of water out of his pursed lips, in imitation of the nude statues customarily found in decorative fountains. Thus the artist and the work of art become one and the same. During the period in which he made this work, Nauman used the statement “The true artist is an amazing luminous fountain” in a number of text-based works. This playful illustration of the statement satirizes the cliché of the artist as a prolific genius who spews forth a steady stream of masterpieces. Self-Portrait as a Fountain also pays homage to Marcel Duchamp‘s notorious Fountain (1917)—a readymade porcelain urinal that Duchamp provocatively exhibited as a sculpture. Like Fountain, Nauman’s Self-Portrait as a Fountain subverts conventional definitions of what constitutes a work of art.

Audio

Bruce Nauman, Self Portrait as a Fountain

From Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself

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Bruce Nauman, Self Portrait as a Fountain

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Narrator: These photographs by Bruce Nauman are intentionally playful. In our conversation, McKenzie focused especially on one called Self Portrait as a Fountain.
Dave McKenzie: I think on one hand it's a really classic kind of sculpture. I think about it as a kind of role play. But it's the image in particular of the series that is unbelievably active, meaning you can see the action of its making. And I think that's really helpful for an artist. I think you can imagine one sort of having that idea and you can imagine the playfulness of pretending to be a fountain. It's also something that I notice that I do, like in the shower I do that a lot, this kind of fountain thing.
So... it's like an every person sculpture, right? Whether we're kids or adults, we've all sort of done this gesture.
For me, it feels really generous as an idea.