MARCEL BROODTHAERS | Le Corbeau et le Renard

Wide White Space Gallery, Antwerp
Acquired from the above by the present owner

We advise you to contact the Contemporary Art Department (joelle.koops@sothebys.com) for additional images and a video of the work. 1. The cover presents scratches and wear marks. The labels present dirt marks. There are traces of white paint at the back of the doc holder and at the top rim. The blue inside covers have yellowed along the edges. 2. The edges present wear marks. The corners of the work, which are covered by fabric, are worn. There are tiny black stains scattered throughout the surface, which are certainly inherent to the artist's technique. The surface is slightly dirty. The lower right quadrant presents a faint white and red stain. 3. The work is mounted in the frame with magnets. The overall surface is slightly yellow, most notably along the edges. On of the collage elements is slightly undulated. 4. The metal box is in good condition. The label is lightly coming off on one side. The interior and the film have not been inspected. 5. The work is mounted in the frame with magnets. The overall surface is slightly yellow, most notably along the edges. Tiny dog ear in the upper left corner. Small dirt marks visible along the lower edge and in the upper right corner. 6. There are fold marks and creases scattered throughout the surface. The work is mounted in the frame with magnets. 7. The edges of the fabric are undulated due to having been kept rolled up. Creases in the surface. The wooden base is visible under the black paint under the black wooden bar at the bottom. A small nail is sticking out at the right end of the black wooden bar. 8. There are fold marks and creases scattered throughout the surface The work is mounted in the frame with magnets. 9. There are fold marks and creases scattered throughout the surface and the center of the composition is slightly undulated.The work is mounted in the frame with magnets.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

All at once poet, bibliophile, photographer, art critic and lecturer, Marcel Broodthaers truly established himself in the art world in 1964, at the age of 40, with work-objects along the line of New Realism. In addition, the relationship between word and image has been crucial in Broodthaers's work, which owes a great deal to surrealist artist René Magritte -whom he knew well- as well as writers like Mallarmé, Baudelaire, Lautréamont and La Fontaine. It was precisely while working on an edition work and a film inspired by Magritte that Broodthaers started The Crow and the Fox (1967), which first version was exhibited in March 1968, and the second in 1972, at the Wide White Space Gallery in Antwerp: "I have used La Fontaine's fable and transformed it into what I call a personal writing (poetry). I have associated daily objects (boots, telephone, bottle of milk) to the text, which purpose is to closely interact with the printed letters. It is also an attempt to deny as much as possible the meaning of the word as well as of the image" (Marcel Broodthaers interview, in Trépied, Brussels, N°2, February 1968, pp. 4-5).

To create greater confusion and allow a wider range of interpretations, Broodthaers projected the movie on screens also covered with text, of which he designed two different format versions, along with fragments of his poems. The first version of this edition installation consisted of two screens, a wooden box lined with photographic canvas containing the movie, two sticks and other numbered prints on cardboard (Anny De Decker, Le Corbeau et le Renard, in Marcel Broodthaers, Paris, Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, December 17, 1991 – March 1, 1992, p. 120) and photographic canvas. For the opening, "Broodthaers had invited musician friends who played Bach and Vivaldi, which gave a sort of classical and solemn atmosphere to the event, rather unusual in avant-garde galleries"[2]. Because of their high production cost, there were only seven boxes made instead of the 40 originally planned, although Broodthaers proposed to produce the film and screens in a limited edition.  

Afterwards, Broodthaers designed a cardboard folder illustrated with La Fontaine's portrait to gather the canvases and cardboards made for the most part in 1968 –he however changed one of the cardboards, separated two photographic canvases, and replaced the felt illustrated with a mussel dish with a photographic canvas representing himself writing La Fontaine's poem (a variation of a unique work from 1968 presented with a typing machine today kept at the Centre Pompidou with the inventory number AM 1985-188). There are therefore 40 copies of this edition numbered 1 to 7 with box, and 8 to 40 with cardboard folder, among which is the edition 15/40 we are presenting here.

The Crow and the Fox by Marcel Broodthaers is a very rare work, as most editions are kept in museums today. As a unique edition piece intertwining various artistic disciplines, it represents a turning point in the artist's career. The reoccurrence of a few favorite objects like mussels and fries somehow marks their last appearance as well as the transition toward of a new field of research weaving "in the same approach, poetry, artistic creation and cinema". (Michel Draguet, Mallarmé 'FIG. 0' : pièces pour une filiation Magritte-Broodthaers, Magritte, Broodthaers & l'Art contemporain, Brussels, Ludion/ Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, October 13, 2017 –February 18, 2018, p. 45.)



Conceived in 1967 and edited by Wide White Space Gallery in Antwerp, this work is from an edition of 40. Seven are numbered 1-7 and were produced in 1968 and presented in a wooden box; and 33, numbered 8-40 were produced in 1972 in a cardboard portfolio.