About this artwork
This work is made of standardised, repeatable units: glass jars, wooden discs and pictures of an eye from a cosmetics advert. Broodthaers's use of commonly available objects in this work shows the impact of the 1960s, when Pop artists frequently made use of advertising and the replicated image in their work. However, the sculpture also opens up a range of ideas about voyeurism and consumer culture. There is no front or back view of the work: the eyes look out from every angle of the tower; there is no escape from their gaze.
Updated before 2020
see media-
artist:Marcel Broodthaers (1924 - 1976) Belgian
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title:La Tour visuelle [The Visual Tower]
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date created:1966
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materials:Glass jars, wood and magazine illustrations
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measurements:88.70 x 49.70 x 49.70 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1983
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accession number:GMA 2794
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gallery:
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subject:
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glossary:
Marcel Broodthaers
Marcel Broodthaers
Broodthaers was born in Brussels and had a varied early career, being, amongst other things, a book-dealer and poet. He began making art objects as an experiment when he was forty years old, partly through feeling that art might be a better way to make money than selling books. Broodthaers was on...