Michael Oppitz
on Marcel Broodthaers
Michael Oppitz
on Marcel Broodthaers
27 January - 25 February 2023
Michael Oppitz met Marcel Broodthaers at Broodthaers’ exhibition Der Adler vom Oligozän bis heute (The Eagle from the Oligocene to the Present) at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in 1972. As the most comprehensive presentation to date of his museum fiction in the Rhineland, the exhibition exercised considerable influence on the local art scene. Impressed by the Belgian artist’s work, the young ethnographer left a note of appreciation in the guest book. Broodthaers then contacted Oppitz on the basis of this note and asked him to write a text - “Adler Pfeife Urinoir” (Eagle Pipe Urinal) - for the second volume of the catalogue.
This marked the beginning of a friendship defined by mutual respect which lasted until Broodthaers’ death in 1976. When he attended the opening at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Oppitz was accompanied by his friend Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, with whom he was living at the time. Buchloh worked at Galerie Rudolf Zwirner in Cologne and organized an exhibition there with Broodthaers in 1973. This exhibition, Peintures Littéraires. 1972-1973 (Literary Paintings. 1972-1973), included an interview between Broodthaers, Buchloh, and Oppitz as a press text.
Another friend during these years was the artist Lothar Baumgarten, who shared Oppitz’s interest in ethnography. In 1974, Oppitz and Baumgarten held a collaborative exhibition with Konrad Fischer in Düsseldorf. This exhibition was conceived as an addendum to Broodthaers’ Der Adler vom Oligozän bis heute; their aim was to extend the critical principles of Broodthaers’ museum fiction to the iconography of the eagle in American Indian mythologies. In a nod to the bird motif, Baumgarten and Oppitz called the exhibition Rabe (Raven).
On the occasion of this exhibition, Broodthaers made a friendly jab at his young colleagues by himself producing a card as an answer to their invitation. In reference to Jean de la Fontaine’s fable “Le Corbeau et le Renard” (The Crow and the Fox), he printed the German word “Fuchs” (Fox) on the front of the card, mimicking the layout of the invitation for Rabe. Underneath is the statement: “Mais qui mangera le fromage?” (But who gets the cheese?), a reference to the fact that Baumgarten and Oppitz’s exhibition was held at a commercial gallery and their work was for sale.
Oppitz’s last collaboration with Broodthaers was a contribution to the catalogue for his exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1974. For this publication, Catalogue-Catalogus, Oppitz wrote the text “Rubens und der Wintergarten” (Rubens and the Winter Garden).
Marcel Broodthaers
The Mind of vélo-club avis et Nouvelles, 1973
black and blue print on paper, stamp, inscribed
69.5 x 99 cm
(framed: 74 x 104 cm)
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, New York 2023
Marcel Broodthaers
The Mind of vélo-club avis et Nouvelles, 1973
black and blue print on paper, stamp, inscribed
69.5 x 99 cm
(framed: 74 x 104 cm)
Marcel Broodthaers
Un Chateaubriand bien-saignant pour deux, 1973
black and grey letterpress on primed canvas
90 x 72 cm
Marcel Broodthaers
Der Adler vom Oligozän bis heute
Band I & II
exhibition catalogue Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1972
two volumes, each 64 pages
Owrps, 21 x 15 cm
Peintures Litteraires. 1972-1973
invitation card Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Köln 1973
Interview with Marcel Broodthaers by B.H.D. Buchloh and Michael Oppitz
original press release for a film screening of:
Marcel Broodthaers “Analyse d’une peinture” (film, 16 mm, color, 1973)
as part of:
Peintures Litteraires. 1972-1973
Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Köln 1973
Marcel Broodthaers
Fuchs. Mais qui mangera le fromage?
card sent on the occasion of the exhibition “Rabe” by Lothar
Baumgarten / Michael Oppitz at Galerie Konrad Fischer,
Düsseldorf 1974
in original envelope by M.B., addressed to Michael Oppitz
front/back
Lothar Baumgarten / Michael Oppitz
Rabe
invitation card Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf 1974
front/back
Lothar Baumgarten / Michael Oppitz
T’E-NE-T’E
exhibition catalogue Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf 1974
48 pages, Owrps, 21 x 15 cm
Michael Oppitz
original manuscript of text:
Rubens und der Wintergarten
for:
Marcel Broodthaers
Catalogue-Catalogus
exhibition catalogue Societe des Expositions du Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussels 1974
Marcel Broodthaers
Catalogue-Catalogus
exhibition catalogue Societe des Expositions du Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussels 1974
76 pages, Owrps, 30 x 23 cm
front/back
Marcel Broodthaers
Racisme végétal
edited and published B.H.D. Buchloh, Köln 1974
16 pages, Owrps, 29.5 x 21 cm