Lot n° 151
Estimation :
300 - 400
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 500EUR
- Lot 151
Marcel BROODTHAERS - Autograph ticket signed to Claude Sluys, his friend and lawyer.
Handwritten 4-line note, revealing Marcel Broodthaers' precarious financial situation. The latter asked his friend Claude Sluys, a lawyer, to consult him about a letter received from Les Tissages Réunis.
JOINTS:
- Typed letter signed, dated 2/11/1953, from Mr. E. Kokkelenberg of Tissages Réunis to Mr. Marcel Broodthaers informing him of his intention to lodge a complaint with the King's Prosecutor.
- Double typed and signed from a letter from Claude Sluys dated 5/11/1953 addressed to Mr. Kokkelenberg.
- Printed leaflet containing an extract from a judgment dated 21 February 1951 relating to a swindle at the expense of Tissages Réunis sent by Mr E. Kokkelenberg, annexed to his letter.
- "Affaire terminée" a short handwritten note by Claude Sluys reporting an amicable settlement consisting of a "payment in instalments of 200 frs per month".
Set of 5 documents.
A small file that says a lot about the profound destitution that Marcel Broodthaers experienced until the age of about thirty.
At that time, as Michaël Compton wrote in 1991, "He lived like a poet and in extreme poverty" (catalogue "Marcel Broodthaers", Galerie du Jeu de Paume, 1991 p.302).
This is confirmed by a sentence in Marcel Broodthaers' letter to the "Poet", which at first glance appears harmless but is symptomatic of the apparent carelessness - tinged with cynicism - of his prolonged youth ("I have received a curious threatening letter, I am not sure whether I should take it seriously."). And as regards his "Poverty", a passage in Claude Sluys' letter intervening as a lawyer ("[...] Mr Broodthaers, as you may be unaware, is currently in a very difficult financial situation, [...]").
Later, he invokes "his client's insolvency".
It was through Magritte, Nougé and the Brussels surrealist group he frequented
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