Marcel Broodthaers
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Marcel Broodthaers (28 January 1924 – 28 January 1976) was a
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
poet, filmmaker, and visual artist with a highly literate and often witty approach to creating
art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
works. In 1943-1951 he was a member of a Communist party.


Life and career

Broodthaers was born in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium, where he was associated with the Groupe Surréaliste-revolutionnaire from 1945 and dabbled in
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
,
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, and
poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
. After spending 20 years in poverty as a struggling poet, at the end of 1963 he decided to become an artist and began to make objects.Marcel Broodthaers
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
.
He performed the symbolic act of embedding fifty unsold copies of his book of poems ''Pense-Bête'' in plaster, creating his first art object. That same year, 1964, for his first exhibition, he wrote an infamous introduction that was printed onto pages cut from magazines that doubled as the exhibition's public announcement:
"I, too, wondered whether I could not sell something and succeed in life. For some time I had been no good at anything. I am forty years old... Finally the idea of inventing something insincere crossed my mind and I set to work straightaway. At the end of three months I showed what I had produced to Philippe Edouard Toussaint, the owner of the Galerie St Laurent. 'But it is art' he said 'and I will willingly exhibit all of it.' 'Agreed' I replied. If I sell something, he takes 30%. It seems these are the usual conditions, some galleries take 75%. What is it? In fact it is objects."
Broodthaers made his first film in 1957, and from 1967 he produced over 50 short films in documentary, narrative, and experimental styles. Broodthaers later worked principally with assemblies of found objects and
collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...
, often containing written texts. He incorporated written language in his art and used whatever was at hand for his raw materials—most notably the shells of eggs and mussels, but also furniture, clothing, garden tools, household gadgets and reproductions of artworks.Suzanne Muchnich (18 July 1989)
Sincerely Insincere
''
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''.
In his ''Visual Tower'' (1966), Broodthaers made a seven-story circular tower of wood. He filled each story with uniform glass jars, and in every jar he placed an identical image taken from an illustrated magazine, of the eye of a beautiful young woman. John Russell (23 April 1989)
An Antic, Insubordinate Performer Babel?
''
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''.
For ''Surface de moules (avec sac) (Surface of mussels (with bag))'' (1966), he glued mussels in resin on a square panel; in 1974 the artist added a discreet metal hook to the centre of the work designed to support a shopping bag filled with mussel shells. From 1968 to 1975 Broodthaers produced large-scale
environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
pieces that reworked the very notion of the museum. His most noted work was an installation which began in his Brussels house which he called ''Musée d'Art Moderne, Départment des Aigles'' (1968), containing different representations of eagles in glass cases that were accompanied by signs that asserted "This is not a work of art", implying that museums obscure the ideological functioning of images by imposing illegitimate classifications of value. This installation was followed by a further eleven manifestations of the 'museum', including at the
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available preca ...
for an exhibition in 1970 and at documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972. In 1970 Broodthaers conceived of the ''Financial Section'', which encompassed an attempt to sell the museum "on account of bankruptcy." The sale was announced on the cover of the
Art Cologne Art Cologne is an art fair held annually in Cologne, Germany and was established in 1967 as ''Kölner Kunstmarkt''. It is regarded as the world's oldest art fair of its kind. The fair runs for six days and brings together galleries from more than ...
fair catalogue in 1971, but no buyers were found. As part of the ''Financial Section'', the artist also produced an unlimited edition of gold ingots stamped with the museum's emblem, an eagle, a symbol associated with power and victory. The ingots were sold to raise money for the museum, at a price calculated by doubling the market value of gold, the surcharge representing the bar's value as art. In 1974, Broodthaers launched three separate exhibitions in the same week, each consisting of a new type of installation artwork he referred to as "décors". The venues of these exhibitions were Wide White Space in Antwerp, Catalogue-Catalogus at Palais de Beaux-Arts Brussels, and Eloge du sujet at Kunstmuseum Basel. In 1975 Broodthaers presented the exhibition "L’Angelus de Daumier" at the Centre National d’Art Contemporain in Paris, at which each room had the name of a colour. In ''La Salle Blanche (The White Room)'' (1975), a life-size copy of a room and a half in Broodthaers' home in Brussels, the wooden walls of the empty, unfurnished rooms are covered with printed words in French—such as museum, gallery, oil, subject, composition, images, and privilege—all intended to examine "the influence of language on perceptions of the world and the ways museums affect the production and consumption of art." For such works he is associated with the late 20th century global spread of both
installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...
as well as "institutional critique," in which interrelationships between artworks, the artist, and the museum are a focus. Indeed, Broodthaers' ''Musée d'Art Moderne'', his "first fictional museum," allowed him to simultaneously posture as artist, director, curator and trustee in a self-reflexive examination of the order and prescriptions implicit in the production of museum exhibits. In 2019,
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
cited ''Musée d'Art Moderne, Départment des Aigles'' as one of the 25 works of art that defined the contemporary age. From late 1969, Broodthaers lived mainly in Düsseldorf, Berlin, and finally London. He died of a
liver disease Liver disease, or hepatic disease, is any of many diseases of the liver. If long-lasting it is termed chronic liver disease. Although the diseases differ in detail, liver diseases often have features in common. Signs and symptoms Some of the sig ...
in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
on his 52nd birthday. He is buried at
Ixelles Cemetery Ixelles Cemetery (french: Cimetière d'Ixelles, ; nl, Begraafplaats van Elsene), located in Ixelles in the southern part of Brussels, is one of the major cemeteries in Belgium. ''Ixelles Cemetery'' also refers to a neighbourhood with a lot of ...
in Brussels under a tombstone of his own design which was realized by Karel Van Roy, sculptor in
Beernem Beernem (; vls, Beirnem) is a rural municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders, located southeast of Bruges. The municipality comprises the towns of Beernem proper, Oedelem and Sint-Joris. On January 1, 2006 Beernem had a total popul ...
, Belgium.


Exhibitions

In 1980, the exhibition "Marcel Broodthaers" was mounted by the
Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
, London. Other important retrospectives of Broodthaers' work have been held at the
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...
(1989),
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...
(1989);
Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...
, Pittsburgh (1989);
Jeu de Paume ''Jeu de paume'' (, ; originally spelled ; ), nowadays known as real tennis, (US) court tennis or (in France) ''courte paume'', is a ball-and-court game that originated in France. It was an indoor precursor of tennis played without racquets, a ...
, Paris (1991); and
Palais des Beaux Arts The Centre for Fine Arts (french: Palais des Beaux-Arts, nl, Paleis voor Schone Kunsten) is a multi-purpose cultural venue in Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR (a homophone of ''Beaux-arts'') in French or PSK in Dutch. The ...
, Brussels (2000), The Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2015), and Muhka, Antwerp (2019). The most recent traveling survey was organized by the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, New York and the
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...
, Madrid in 2016, which travelled to the
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, in Düsseldorf. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the ''K20'' at Grabbeplatz, the ''K21'' in the ...
, Düsseldorf in 2017. An important solo exhibition of the film work, "Marcel Broodthaers: Cinéma", was shown at Fundacio Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, and
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available preca ...
in (1997). There have been many notable international group exhibitions, including
documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...
5, 7 and 10, Kassel (1972, 1982, and 1997).


Publishing

As a poet and political activist, Broodthaers had a life-long interest in the circulatory power of printed matter: posters, graphics, editions, and artist books. In addition to the prospect of commercial galleries selling limited editions, the artist's books Broodthaers published with institutions like Kunstalle Düsseldorf, the Deutsche Academischer Austaudienst (DAAD), Berlin, the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, merged his profit ambitions with his nonprofit conceptual and philosophical ideas. For example, Broodthaers' catalogue for ''Der Adler von Oligizän bis heute,'' the seminal culmination of his ''Musee d'Art Moderne, department des Aigles,'' at Kunstalle Düsseldorf in 1972, was published in two volumes. Volume I featured a scholarly index of the items on display and was for sale at the opening of the exhibition, replete with a coupon that could be redeemed later for Volume II, which featured views of the installation and came out at the close of the exhibition. Broodthaers returned to this motif for his artist's book ''Photographieren Verboten/No Photographs Allowed'' but aimed it at the convention of the exhibition catalogue, with version one published by the DAAD, Berlin, and version two by the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. The Oxford book presents ostensibly the same content as the DAAD book but scrambles the internal logic of the book, changing the context of its standard component parts—title page, checklist, scholarly essay, curriculum vitae—and thus the implications of each. Content normally reserved for the rear of an exhibition catalogue (in this case the artist's cv) appears on the inside front cover as a decorative pattern, and scholarly content such as the catalogue essay appears on the outside back cover like an advertising blurb.


Literature

* Buchloh, Benjamin (ed.), Broodthaers. Writings, Interviews, Photographs, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: 1988 * Nicolaus, Heinrich (pb.) Dickhoff, Wilfried (ed.), Marcel Broodthaers, Tinaia Box Nr. 9, Cologne: 1994 * Dickhoff, Wilfried (ed.), Marcel Broodthaers. Interviews & Dialogue 1946–1976, Cologne: 1994 * Borgemeister, Rainer: Marcel Broodthaers traversant. Versuch einer Werkmonographie, Bochum: 1996 * Zwirner, Dorothea, Marcel Broodthaers, Cologne: 1997 * Hakkens, Anna (ed.), Marcel Broodthaers par lui-même, Gent: 1999 * Folie, Sabine, Mackert, Gabriele (ed.), Marcel Broodthaers. Po(li)etique, Kunsthalle Wien (cat.), Vienna: 2003 *
Rosalind Krauss Rosalind Epstein Krauss (born November 30, 1941) is an American art critic, art theorist and a professor at Columbia University in New York City. Krauss is known for her scholarship in 20th-century painting, sculpture and photography. As a critic ...
, A Voyage on the North Sea, Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes, 2008, . * Haidu, Rachel, The Absence of Work: Marcel Broodthaers, 1964-1976. Cambridge: MIT Press (2010). * Moure, Gloria (ed.), Marcel Broodthaers. Collected Writings, Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa, 2012 * König, Susanne, Marcel Broodthaers. Musée d'Art Moderne, Département des Aigles, Berlin 2012 * * Li, Eric, Marcel Broodthaers: On Des!!!gn, Broodthaers Society of America: 2020.


Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broodthaers, Marcel 1924 births 1976 deaths Conceptual artists Belgian surrealist artists Belgian contemporary artists Institutional Critique artists Burials at Ixelles Cemetery Artists from Brussels Belgian male poets Deaths from liver disease 20th-century Belgian poets 20th-century Belgian male writers