Marcel Broodthaers (28 January 1924 – 28 January 1976) was a
Belgian poet, filmmaker and artist with a highly literate and often witty approach to creating
art works.
He was born in
Brussels, Belgium, where he was associated with the
Groupe Surréaliste-revolutionnaire from 1945 and dabbled in
journalism,
film, and
poetry. After spending 20 years in poverty as a struggling poet, 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 a famous preface for the exhibition catalogue;<blockquote>"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 finally 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, 1964He worked principally with assemblies of
found objects...
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