Marcel Broodthaers

Marcel Broodthaers in Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1972.
Born	January 28, 1924(1924-01-28) Brussels, Belgium
Died	January 28, 1976(1976-01-28) (aged 52) Brussels, Belgium
Web	UbuWeb Film, UbuWeb Sound, Aaaaarg, Wikipedia
Collections	Pompidou, MoMA

L-R: Johannes Cladders, Harald Szeemann, Jacques Caumont and Marcel Broodthaers at Documenta 5, Kassel, 1972.

Un coup de Dés jamais n’abolira le Hasard, 1969, Log, PDF.

Un voyage en mer du nord, 1974, Log, PDF.

Marcel Broodthaers (1924-1976) worked as a poet and critic until the age of 40, when he declared himself a visual artist. Over the next 12 years, he moved between Brussels, his birth city, and Düsseldorf and London. From 1968 to 1972 Broodthaers operated the Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles, an itinerant museum devoted to the exploration of the role of the institution itself and the function of art in society.

Works

Poetry

• Mon livre d'ogre. Suite de récits poétiques, Ostend: À l'Enseigne de l'Arquebuse du Silence, 1957, 44 pp. (French)
• Minuit, Brussels: George Houyoux, 1960, 24 pp. (French)
• La bête noire, Brussels, 1961, 16 pp. (French)
• Pense-bête, Brussels, 1964, 32 pp. (French)
• Je m'en lave les mains, Zurich: Seedorn, 1982. (French)
• Statues de Bruxelles, Brussels: Amis du Musee d'Ixelles, 1987. With photographs by Julien Coulommier. (French)

Film

• Clef d'Horloge (Poème cinémathographique en l’honneur de Kurt Schwitters), 1957.
• Le Corbeau et le Renard, 1968.
• La pluie (Projet pour un texte), 1973.
• La pipe satire, 1969/70.
• Cinéma modèle: programme La Fontaine, 1970.
• A Film by Charles Baudelaire (Political Map of the World), 1970.
• Section cinéma, 1972.
• Un voyage en mer du nord [A Voyage on the North Sea], 1974.

Sound recordings

• Interview With a Cat, [1970], 5 min. Sound recording.
• Apprentissage et filation, 5 min. Sound recording.

Artist's books

• Un coup de Dés jamais n’abolira le Hasard, 1969.
• Un voyage en mer du nord, 1974.
• La Conquête de l’espace. Atlas à l’usage des artistes et des militaires, 1975; facs.repr. as The Conquest of Space: Atlas for the Use of Artists and the Military, Museum of Modern Art, 2016, 38 pp. [1]
• selections from Broodthaers' artist's books on MoMA.org

Writings

• "Investigating Dreamland" [1960], trans. Paul Schmidt, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 30-31. (English)
  • "Investigando el país de los sueños", c2016. (Spanish)
• "Gare au Defi! Le Pop Art, Jim Dine et l'influence de Rene Magritte", Journal des Beaux-Art 1029, 14 Nov 1963, p 9. (French)
  • "Gare au défi Pop Art, Jim Dine, and the Influence of René Magritte", trans. Paul Schmidt, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 32-34. (English)
  • "Gare au défi. El arte pop, Jim Dine y la influencia de René Magritte", c2016. (Spanish)
• "To Be a Straight Thinker or Not to Be. To Be Blind" in Broodthaers, Le privilège de l'art, Oxford: Museum of Modern Art, 1975.
  • "To Be 'Bien Pensant'... or Not to Be. To Be Blind", trans. Paul Schmidt, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, p 35. (English)
• October 42: "Marcel Broodthaers: Writings, Interviews, Photographs", ed. & intro. Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, MIT Press, Autumn 1987. (English)
• Collected Writings, ed. Gloria Moure, Barcelona: Poligrafa, Barcelona, 2013, 512 pp. [2] (English)

Bibliography

• Marie-Pascale Gildemyn, "Marcel Broodthaers: Bibliography", October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 198-210. (English)

Catalogues

Conceived and edited in collaboration with Broodthaers

• Moules Oeufs Frites Pots Charbon, Antwerp: Wide White Space Gallery, 1966. Exh. held 26 May-26 Jun 1966. (French)
• Le Court-Circuit, Brussels: Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1967. Exh. held 13-25 Apr 1967. (French)
• MTL-DTH, Brussels: Galerie MTL, 1970. Exh. held 13 Mar-10 Apr 1970. (French)
• Film als Objekt. Objekt als Film, Moenchengladbach: Stadtisches Museum, 1972. Exh. held 21 Oct-7 Nov 1972. (German)
• Section des Figures (Der Adler vom Oligozaen bis Heute), 2 vols., Düsseldorf: Städtische Kunsthalle, 1972. Texts by Broodthaers, Juergen Harten, Michael Oppitz, and Karl Ruhrberg. Exh. held 16 May-9 Jul 1972. (German)
• Marcel Broodthaers: Catalogue / Catalogus, Brussels: Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1974. Exh. held 27 Sep-3 Nov 1974.
• Eloge du sujet, Basel: Kunstmuseum, 1974. Exh. held 5 Oct-3 Nov 1974. (German)
• Invitation pour une exposition bourgeoise, Berlin: Nationalgalerie, 1975. Exh. held 25 Feb-6 Apr 1975. (German)
• Le privilège de l'art, Oxford: Museum of Modern Art, 1975. Exh. held 26 Apr-1 Jun 1975. (English)
• L'Angélus de Daumier, 2 vols., intro. Pontus Hultén, Paris: Centre national d'art contemporain, 1975, [32]+[32] pp. Exh. held 2 Oct-10 Nov 1975. [3] (French)

Published posthumously

• A Programme of Films by Marcel Broodthaers, London: Tate Gallery, 1977. Exh. held 9-18 Feb 1977. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers. Books Editions Films, Edinburgh: New 57 Gallery, August 15-September 10, 1977. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers. Editionen (1964-1975), Munich: Galerie Heiner Friedrich, 1978. (German)
• Marcel Broodthaers, London: Tate Gallery, 1980. Texts by Alan Bowness, Michael Compton, Maria Gilissen, Pontus Hultén, and Barbara M. Reise. Exh. held 16 Apr-26 May 1980. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Cologne: Galerie Michael Werner, 1980. Exh. held 3 Oct-5 Nov 1980. (German)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Cologne: Museum Ludwig, 1980. Exh. held 4 Oct-26 Nov 1980. (German)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Rotterdam: Museum Boymans van Beuningen, 1981. Exh. held 14 Feb-22 Mar 1981. (Dutch)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Bern: Kunsthalle, 1982. Exh. held 30 Jan-14 Mar 1982. (German)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 1982. Exh. held 15 May-27 Jun 1982.
• Marcel Broodthaers. Catalogue des livres / Catalogue of Books / Katalog der Buecher: 1957-1975, Cologne: Galerie Michael Werner, and New York: Marian Goodman Gallery, and Paris: Galerie Gillespie, Laage, Salomon, 1982. (French)/(English)/(German)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Paris: Galerie Isy Brachot, 1982. Exh. held 3 Nov 1982-8 Jan 1983. (French)
• Marcel Broodthaers. L'Entrée de l'exposition, Cologne: Galerie Michael Werner, 1984. Exh. held 27 Sep-Oct 1984.
• Marcel Broodthaers, New York: Marian Goodman Gallery, 1984. Exh. held 1-24 Nov 1984. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers. Fotografische Bildnisse, Linz: Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, n.d. (German)
• Marcel Broodthaers. Oeuvres majeures provenant d'une collection privee & Anvers, vol. I, Brussels: Yves Gevaert, 1984. (French)
• Marcel Broodthaers, New York: Mary Boone/Michael Werner Gallery, 1984. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Antwerp: Galerij BBL, 1985. Exh. held 10 Jan-16 Feb 1985. (French)
• Marcel Broodthaers. Oeuvres majeures, provenant d'une collection privee a Anvers, vol. II, Brussels: Yves Gevaert, 1986. (French)
• Marcel Broodthaers, New York: Marian Goodman Gallery, 1986. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Cologne: Galerie Michael Werner, 1986. (German)
• Marcel Broodthaers Editions. Books-Films-Plastic Plates-Objects-Prints, Nieuwpoort: Florizoone Fine Arts, 1987. (English)
• Broodthaers, Paris and Brussels: Galerie Isy Brachot, 1987. (French)
• Marcel Broodthaers, intro. Marge Goldwater, Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, and New York: Rizzoli, 1989. Texts by Michael Compton, Douglas Crimp, Bruce Jenkins, and Martin Mosebach. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers, Paris: Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, 1991. Texts by Catherine David and Birgit Pelzer; biography by Michael Compton. (French)
• Section Publicite du Musee d'Art Moderne, Departement des Aigles, Marcel Broodthaers, eds. Benjamin H.D. Buchloh and Maria Gilissen, New York: Marian Goodman Gallery, 1995. Text by Buchloh. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers: Cinema, eds. Manuel J. Boija-Villel and Michael Compton with Maria Gilissen, intro. Gloria Moure, Santiago de Compostela: Centra Galego de Arte Contemporanea, 1997. Texts by Bruce Jenkins and Jean-Christophe Royoux; artist's writings.
• Marcel Broodthaers, ed. Marie-Puck Broodthaers, Tielt: Lannoo, 2013, 320 pp. With texts by Wilfried Dickhoff and Bernard Marcadé. Excerpt. [4] (Dutch)
• Marcel Broodthaers, ed. Susanne Pfeffer, Kassel: Fridericianum, 2015, 38 pp. Texts by Ann-Charlotte Günzel, Anna Sailer, Nina Tabassomi, Anna Weinreich. (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers, eds. Christophe Cherix and Manuel J. Borja-Villel, New York: Museum of Modern Art, and Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 2016, 351 pp. Excerpt. Essays by Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Jean-François Chevrier, Thierry de Duve, and Doris Krystof. Retrospective exh. held at MoMA, 14 Feb-15 May 2016; Reina Sofia, 5 Oct 2016-9 Jan 2017; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 4 Mar-11 Jun 2017. Review: Tinari (Seen). [5] [6] [7] (English)
• Marcel Broodthaers. A Retrospective, Düsseldorf: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2017, 51 pp. Exh. booklet. (English)

Interviews

• Jürgen Harten, Katharina Schmidt, "Auszug aus einem Gespräch mit Marcel Broodthaers", in Broodthaers, Section des Figures, Düsseldorf: Städtische Kunsthalle, 1972. (German)
  • French trans., 2016. (French)
• "Interview de Marcel Broodthaers", Trépied 1, Brussels, 1968, pp 4-5. (French)
  • "An Interview with Marcel Broodthaers by the Film Journal Trépied", trans. Paul Schmidt, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 36-38. (English)
• Irmeline Lebeer, "Dix mille francs de recompense", in Marcel Broodthaers: Catalogue / Catalogus, Brussels: Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1974, pp 64-68. (French)
  • "Ten Thousand Francs Reward ", trans. Paul Schmidt, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 39-48. (English)

Literature

Books

• Rosalind Krauss, A Voyage on the North Sea: Art in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition, London: Thames & Hudson, 2000, 64 pp. Based on the 1999 Walter Neurath Memorial Lecture. (English)
  • "A voyage on the North Sea": Broodthaers, das Postmediale, trans. Sabine Schulz, Zürich: diaphanes, 2008, 87 pp. (German)
• Philippe Antoine, Marcel Broodthaers. Moule - Muse - Méduse: un essai critique en sept coups, Dijon: Les Presses du Réel, 2006. [8] (French)
• Deborah Schultz, Marcel Broodthaers: Strategy and Dialogue, Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. TOC. (English)
• Rachel Haidu, The Absence of Work: Marcel Broodthaers, 1964-1976, MIT Press, 2010, 400 pp. [9] (English)

Book chapters, articles

• Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, "Marcel Broodthaers: Allegories of the Avant-Garde", Artforum, May 1980, pp 52-59. (English)
• Benjamin Buchloh, "La fiction de musee de Marcel Broodthaers / The Museum Fictions of Marcel Broodthaers", trans. Daphné Beauroy, in Museums by Artists, eds. A.A. Bronson and Peggy Gale, Toronto: Art Metropole, 1983, 45-56. (French)/(English)
• Dieter Schwarz, "'Look! Books in Plaster!': On the First Phase of the Work of Marcel Broodthaers", October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 57-66. (English)
  • "“¡Mira! ¡Libros en yeso!”: Sobre la primera fase de la obra de Marcel Broodthaers", c2016. (Spanish)
• Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, "Open Letters, Industrial Poems", October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 67-100. (English)
  • "Cartas abiertas, Poemas industriales", c2016. (Spanish)
• Anne Rorimer, "The Exhibition at the MTL Gallery in Brussels, March 13 - April 10, 1970", October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 101-125. (English)
  • "La exposición en la Galería MTL en Bruselas, 13 de marzo – 10 de abril, 1970", c2016. (Spanish)
• Dirk Snauwaert, "The Figures", trans. Kaatje Cusse, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 126-134. (English)
  • "Las figuras", c2016. (Spanish)
• Rainer Borgemeister, "'Section des Figures:' The Eagle from the Oligocene to the Present", trans. Chris Cullens, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 135-154. (English)
  • "Section des Figures: El águila del Oligoceno al presente", c2016. (Spanish)
• Michael Oppitz, "Eagle/Pipe/Urinal", trans. Chris Cullens, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 155-156. (English)
  • "Águila/Pipa/Mingitorio", c2016. (Spanish)
• Birgit Pelzer, "Recourse to the Letter", trans. Richard Miller, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 157-181. (English)
  • "Recurrir a la letra", c2016. (Spanish)
• Yves Gevaert, with Emile van Balberghe, "Pauvre Belgique: 'An Asterisk in History'", trans. John Shepley, October 42, MIT Press, Autumn 1987, pp 182-195. (English)
  • "Pauvre Belgique: 'Un asterisco en la Historia'", c2016. (Spanish)
• Stefan Germer, "Haacke, Broodthaers, Beuys", October 45, MIT Press, Summer 1988, pp 63-75. (English)
• George Baker, "This Is Not an Advertisement", Artforum 34:9, May 1996, pp 86-89. (English)
• Robert Thill, "Marcel Broodthaers: Reading the Section Publicite", Flash Art 188, May-June 1996, pp 98-101. (English)
• Kristen Erickson, "Marcel Broodthaers", in Kynaston McShine, The Museum as Muse: Artists Reflect, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1999, pp 62-69. (English)
• Rachel Haidu, "Laughter", in Part Object Part Sculpture, ed. Helen Molesworth, Columbus, OH: Wexner Center for the Arts, 2005. (English)
• Rosalind E. Krauss, "The Angel of History", October 134, MIT Press, Fall 2010, pp 111-121. (English)
• Cathleen Chaffee, "Marcel Broodthaers's Un voyage en Mer du Nord", Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 2011, pp 61-63. (English)
• Shana G. Lindsay, "Mortui Docent Vivos: Jeremy Bentham and Marcel Broodthaers in Figures of Wax", Oxford Art Journal 36:1, Mar 2013, pp 93-107. (English)
• Dirk Snauwaert, Elisabeth Lebovici, Marcel Broodthaers, “Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles, Section des Figures,” 1972. Philippe Thomas, “Feux pâles,” 1990, Mousse Publishing, 2014. [10] (English)
• Patrick Greaney, "Marcel Broodthaers, An Artist in Quotation Marks", ch 3 in Greaney, Quotational Practices: Repeating the Future in Contemporary Art, University of Minnesota Press, 2014, pp 49-86. Examines the place of quotation in the works of Broodthaers and, in particular, in his 1973 artist’s book Je hais le mouvement qui déplace les lignes. (English)
• Nicolas Brulhart, "Chers amis..., histoire et esthétique du cinéma, de Marcel Broodthaers", Decadrages 26-27: "Drones, cartographie et images automatisées", 2014, pp 152-174, PDF. (French)
• Lex Brown, "Deletion, Erasure, and Fragmentation in the Work of Marcel Broodthaers", Columbia Journal of Literary Criticism 10, 2015, pp 50-61. (English)
• Manuel Borja-Villel, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Christophe Cherix, Rachel Haidu, Rosalind Krauss, Trevor Stark, "The Moment of Marcel Broodthaers? A Conversation", October 155, MIT Press, Winter 2016, pp 111-150. (English)
• Koen Brams, "Marcel Broodthaers, 1970", 2016. (Dutch)
  • "Marcel Broodthaers, 1970", 2017. (English)

Theses

• Amy L. Boyle, Marcel Broodthaers and Fred Wilson Conternporary Strategies for Institutional Criticism, Montreal: McGill University, 2005, 120 pp. Master's thesis. (English)
• Maria Elena Minuto, Marcel Broodthaers. Lo sguardo e la pratica allegorica nella contemporaneità, Università degli Studi di Bergamo, 2014, 276 pp. PhD dissertation. (Italian)
• Keila Kern, Marcel Broodthaers: Museu de Arte Moderna Departamento das Águias agora em português, São Paulo: USP, 2014. PhD dissertation. (Brazilian Portuguese)

Links

• Biography and selected works on Forgotten Heritage
• Exhibition "Musée d'Art Moderne - Département des Aigles" by Marcel Broodthaers, Monnaie de Paris, 2015. Online companion.