This book refers to one of Broodthaers’ ‘notebooks’ which is dedicated to the ‘Project towards a treatise of all the figures in three parts’. In it, distinguished curator Jürgen Harten acknowledges the announcement of the eagle exhibition, the preparation of which he was intensely involved in.

His essay opens up the poetic character of this ‘project’, led by memories of his close collaboration with Broodthaers rather than the desire to make a contribution to the academic discourse. Thanks to the artist’s widow, Maria Gilissen-Broodthaers, a partial facsimile of the ‘notebook’ is included as an annex. The vivid, artistic and authentic character of this artist’s book is underlined by 20 image and text sources, several of which are published here for the first time.

Jürgen Harten is a German art historian and curator based in Berlin. He was Secretary for Arnold Bode’s Documenta 4 in Kassel in 1967, and was Director of the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf from 1972 until 1998.

At Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Harten curated a large number of exhibitions that have since secured their place in the annals of exhibition making, including Marcel Broodthaers’ The Eagle from the Oligocene to the Present (1972).

English, German and French text.