Marcel Broodthaers

Marcel Broodthaers's (Belgian, 1924-1976) extraordinary output across mediums placed him at the center of international activity during the transformative decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout his career, from early objects variously made of mussels, eggshells, and books of his own poetry, to his most ambitious project, the Musée d'Art Moderne. Département des Aigles, and the Décors made at the end of his life, Broodthaers occupied a unique position, often operating as both innovator and commentator. Setting a precedent for what we call installation art today, his work has had a profound influence on a broad range of contemporary artists, and he remains vitally relevant to cultural discourse at large. Published to accompany the artist's first museum retrospective in New York, Marcel Broodthaers examines the artist's work across all mediums. Essays by the exhibition organizers Christophe Cherix and Manuel Borja-Villel, along with a host of major scholars, including Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Jean François Chevrier, Thierry de Duve, and Doris Krystof provide historical and theoretical context for the artist's work. The book also features new translations of many of Broodthaers's texts.

Accompanies a major international exhibition which begins at MoMA - the first retrospective of Broodthaers's work in New York, and the first extensive exhibition on the artist in the U.S. since 1989-1990

Christophe Cherix is The Robert Lehman Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Manuel Borja-Villel is Director, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.
Other contributors: Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Jean-François Chevrier, Thierry de Duve, Doris Krystof, Cathleen Chaffee, Kim Conaty, Rafael García Horrillo, Christian Rattemeyer, Sam Sackeroff, Francesca Wilmott and Teresa Velázquez.