Marcel Broodthaers
(Belgian, 1924–1976)
Biography
Marcel Broodthaers was a Belgian interdisciplinary artist who examined the conventions of art objects and the context in which they are shown. Through a variety of witty visual puns, he called into question the authority of institutions like museums and galleries. His works merge ideas from artists like René Magritte and Marcel Duchamp to create a type of art-world commentary that became known as Institutional Critique. In a hallmark work, Musée d'Art Moderne, Départment des Aigles or Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles (1968), an official placard was installed at building sites, with each exhibition containing a curation of eagle-themed images and objects. It is notable that before becoming a visual artist Broodthaers focused on poetry. “I, too, wondered whether I could not sell something and succeed in life,” the artist wrote. “For some time I had been no good at anything. I am 40 years old.Finally the idea of inventing something insincere crossed my mind and I set to work straightaway.” Born on January 28, 1924 in Brussels, Belgium, today his works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. He was the subject of a 2016 retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Broodthaers died on January 28, 1976 in Cologne, Germany.
Marcel Broodthaers
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.jpg "Untitled (Monogrammfolge MB), 1970–1971")
.jpg "Citron - Citroen (Réclame pour la Mer du Nord), 1974")
.jpg "Un Jardin d'Hiver (detail), 1974")
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