In 1964, Belgian-born poet Marcel Broodthaers declared himself a visual artist by exhibiting a sculpture of unsold copies of his book Pense-Bête (Memory Aid) embedded in plaster—a tongue-in-cheek gesture of “implanting” meaning into sculpture. Broodthaers’s critical inquiry into the role of art and art institutions was a lasting concern, most famously enacted in his late 1960s project Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles (Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles), a fabricated temporary museum. Broodthaers produced works distinguished by playful juxtaposition of quotidian objects and subversion of language. One notable example, Ovale d’oeufs 1234567 (Oval of eggs 1234567), 1965, in Glenstone’s collection, consists of dozens of eggshells with numbers inscribed on their delicate surfaces.

–Emily Benoff, from the Glenstone Field Guide