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Lot Essay
One of the earliest and most important motifs in the artist's oeuvre, the mussel pot is Marcel Broodthaers' most celebrated creation. It encapsulates in one iconic and unforgettable image the essence of the artist's provocative and highly whimsical aesthetic. Moules sauce blanche (Mussels White Sauce) of 1967 is one of largest and most striking examples of these rare works.
Born in Belgium in 1924, Broodthaers was a poet who first began making objects in 1964. His very first work was made by setting a book of his poems in plaster, thus transforming his written words into a "sculpture"--a material commodity that, unlike poetry, could be bought and sold. This work set the pattern for much of Broodthaers art of the next twelve years, which similarly explored the gap between image and the written word and questioned the validity of art in a capitalist world that transforms all objects into a saleable commodity.
Broodthaers' use of the mussel as a central form in his work owes its origins to the idea expressed in one of his early poems, where the mussel ("La Moule") is identified with the mould ("le Moule"):
"This clever thing avoided society's mould.
She cast herself in her very own.
Other look-alikes share with her the anti-sea.
She's perfect." (Marcel Broodthaers : "The Mussel" translated by M. Compton, in "Selections from Pense Bjte", October, no. 42 (Fall 1987), p. 27).
For Broodthaers the mussel was a 'perfect' form because of its ability to secrete its own shell. As with the egg, which was also a key raw material of Broodthaers' art, in the mussel, the function of the object had given sole rise to its form.
(fig. 1) Broodthaers working on Bureau de moules, 1966. Photograph by Maria Gilissen, Brussels.
Born in Belgium in 1924, Broodthaers was a poet who first began making objects in 1964. His very first work was made by setting a book of his poems in plaster, thus transforming his written words into a "sculpture"--a material commodity that, unlike poetry, could be bought and sold. This work set the pattern for much of Broodthaers art of the next twelve years, which similarly explored the gap between image and the written word and questioned the validity of art in a capitalist world that transforms all objects into a saleable commodity.
Broodthaers' use of the mussel as a central form in his work owes its origins to the idea expressed in one of his early poems, where the mussel ("La Moule") is identified with the mould ("le Moule"):
"This clever thing avoided society's mould.
She cast herself in her very own.
Other look-alikes share with her the anti-sea.
She's perfect." (Marcel Broodthaers : "The Mussel" translated by M. Compton, in "Selections from Pense Bjte", October, no. 42 (Fall 1987), p. 27).
For Broodthaers the mussel was a 'perfect' form because of its ability to secrete its own shell. As with the egg, which was also a key raw material of Broodthaers' art, in the mussel, the function of the object had given sole rise to its form.
(fig. 1) Broodthaers working on Bureau de moules, 1966. Photograph by Maria Gilissen, Brussels.