Museums around the world hold replicas of Duchamp's Fountain (1917) in their collections. While I felt doubtful that I'd find one at the Oakland Museum of California, I was certain I'd find at least some sort of urinal, which, after the long BART ride, I happened to need desperately. At 11:03 a.m., on a Sunday morning about three weeks ago, I bought my ticket, affixed the orange admission sticker above my right nipple, and immediately got lost.
I eventually found myself in the men's room near the museum's Blue Oak Café, where "American Standard" took the place of Duchamp's pseudonymous signature, "R. Mutt 1917" on the porcelain—both unabashed assertions of ownership. Some readers may know Pierre Pinoncelli, the seventy-seven-year-old Fr ...
