Why did the exhibition committee for a 1917 New York show hide Duchamp's ready-made entry Fountain behind a curtain?

The exhibition committee for the 1917 New York show, organized by the Society of Independent Artists, hid Marcel Duchamp's ready-made entry Fountain behind a curtain due to its provocative nature and the controversy it sparked. The piece, a urinal presented as art, challenged traditional notions of art and aesthetics, leading to debates about artistic merit and appropriateness. The committee's decision reflected the tension between avant-garde ideas and conservative views on art at the time. Ultimately, this act of hiding the work highlighted the very issues of censorship and artistic freedom that Duchamp sought to confront.