{"data":{"id":"5714","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":5714,"topgoose_id":7313,"portfolio_id":5581,"tms_id":5714,"title":"Self Portrait as a Fountain","display_artist_text":"Bruce Nauman","display_date":"1966–1967, printed 1970","accession_number":"70.50.9","dimensions":"Sheet (sight): 20 1/16 × 23 15/16 in. (51 × 60.8 cm)\r\nImage (sight): 19 1/2 × 23 1/4 in. (49.5 × 59.1 cm)","medium":"Chromogenic print","department":"collection","classification":"Photographs","credit_line":"Purchase","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":5581,"portfolio":"Eleven Color Photographs","edition":"7/8","publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eBruce Nauman, \u003cem\u003eSelf Portrait as a Fountain\u003c/em\u003e, 1966–1967, printed 1970. Chromogenic print, sheet (sight): 20 1/16 × 23 15/16 in. (51 × 60.8 cm)\r\nImage (sight): 19 1/2 × 23 1/4 in. (49.5 × 59.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 70.50.9. © Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSelf-Portrait as a Fountain\u003c/i\u003e is one of Bruce Nauman’s \u003ci\u003ePhotographic Suite \u003c/i\u003eof 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 \u003ci\u003eSelf-Portrait as a Fountain\u003c/i\u003e, 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. \u003ci\u003eSelf-Portrait as a Fountain\u003c/i\u003e also pays homage to Marcel Duchamp‘s notorious \u003ci\u003eFountain\u003c/i\u003e (1917)\u003ci\u003e—\u003c/i\u003ea readymade porcelain urinal that Duchamp provocatively exhibited as a sculpture. Like \u003ci\u003eFountain, \u003c/i\u003eNauman’s \u003ci\u003eSelf-Portrait as a Fountain\u003c/i\u003e subverts conventional definitions of what constitutes a work of art.\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"A shirtless man leans back and spits a stream of water upward against a black background.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T16:14:07.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T12:00:07.141-05:00","images":[{"id":97244,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/5714/70_50_9_2_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"939","type":"artist"}]}}}}