Flushed out? Father of conceptualism’s greatest work is fake, say historians

Fountain', by the father of conceptualism, is seen as a pinnacle of 20th-century art - but new evidence casts doubt on its authorship

For more than a century, the art world has celebrated Marcel Duchamp's Fountain. His work, simply a urinal signed and dated R Mutt 1917", is widely regarded as a pinnacle of 20th-century art, with a replica on display in Tate Modern, London. For some, Duchamp is the father of conceptualism, the so-called art of ideas. For others, he is a charlatan responsible for the demise of traditional artistry.

Now two leading art historians are challenging the whole foundation stone of conceptual art" after uncovering what they say is evidence that the urinal has been erroneously attributed to the French-born artist, who simply played along with the charade.