Marcel Broodthaers loved words. Language, metaphors and puns were all integral to Belgian artist Broodthaer’s work when he decided to pursue visual arts after having a career as an avant-garde poet for 40 years in 1964. Both cryptic and riddled, words appear in his early films, projected onto shipping crates and printed over his full-scale interiors. One of his earliest projects, dubbed “Pense-Bête,” or “Memory-Aid,” is literally 50 copies of his unsold books covered in plaster and mounted with abstract wooden and plaster pieces. It’s this sort of irony and sense of humor that the artist continuously carried throughout his work.
Broodthaers also explored curating through his own traveling museum in 1968, but that didn’t stop him from exploring art with a literary scope. “He never stopped creating poetry in the traditional sense,” says Christophe Cherix, MoMA’s Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints. In celebration of the Broodthaers retrospective on view at MoMA earlier this spring, we’re exploring key concepts we can learn from the artist.
- Believe in the power of written word
Broodthaers began his career as a poet and continued to use words for larger than life impact when he turned to visual art. He also incorporated literary references and used actual books in his work. He once said, “An artist does not construct a volume. He writes a volume.” As such, his concept of approaching art always stemmed from writing. “When he gave up writing poetry in the traditional sense, he thought about ways to turn poetry in something visual,” says Cherix. He believed in words as a way of life, instead of merely a form of communication.
- Do play with your food
Mussels and eggshells, which were a part of Broodthaers’ Belgian culture were also present in his art. He interpreted the cracked and empty shells as starting points for intellectual conversations through art. “The eggshell was the origin of everything for him,” explains Cherix, “And the primary element of language. Like a single letter without a meaning.” He sourced them from neighborhood trashcans where he lived and incorporated them into paintings and sculptures.
- Surround yourself with things you love
In the case of Broodthaers’ La Salle blanche (The white room), 1975, he recreated a full-size model of his studio plastered with printed words—his idea of luxury. Installations full of collected objects were another big part of his aesthetic in art—palm trees, furniture, big screens with silent films. He referred to these pieces as “décor” rather than typical installations, and he sought to create a setting similar to old school salons. He knew the value of beautiful objects and the undeniable happiness they can often bring.
- Question history
When Broodthaers decided he’d rather be a curator than an artist in 1968, he formed the Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles, which had neither a permanent location nor a permanent collection. His traveling museum conceptually put garbage and trash on the same level as Old Masters paintings, with the inclusion of reproductions of fine art, decorated crates and wall inscriptions—begging artists and viewers alike to ask the question of “what is art?”
“Coming from poetry, he really wanted to understand what a work of art was,” says Cherix. “How do you define it? Becoming a museum director was a way for him to push a question further.”
- Remember where you came from
As an artist, Broodthaers never forgot about his Belgian origins. He incorporated many Belgian nationalist motifs in his work—from mussel shells and lobsters carcasses used in sculptures down to the colors of the national flag rendered in paintings.
He used eggshells from the neighborhood he grew up in, poor—and created something rich. He turned the colors, sounds, spoken words and images he had seen his entire life from regular, trite realities into something beautiful. “His art is a self-reflective ID,” says Cherix. It’s a lesson to all of us that no matter where you come from, your origins can provide apt inspiration.
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