Final answer:
It is true that many of Marcel Duchamp's readymade artworks were discarded because they were not initially recognized as art; objects like his 'Fountain' challenged traditional art conventions and were influential in later art movements.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that many of Marcel Duchamp's readymade artworks were thrown away because they were not recognized as art is true. Duchamp's radical approach to art involved appropriating everyday objects like bicycle wheels, bottle racks, and, most famously, a urinal—which he titled Fountain—and presenting them as art. This concept of the readymade challenged the traditional view that art had to be handcrafted or have a high aesthetic value. Duchamp's work Fountain was initially rejected by the art community and has been lost to history; the versions that exist today are replicas. His repurposing of objects as art sparked controversy and conversations about the nature of art itself, leading to the later movements such as Pop Art and Conceptual Art.