Poema experimental, 1950
It was at that time, in 1943, that I made the first object poem. I was going down the street and saw a kind of tree bark in a rubbish bin. The shape caught my attention. I put it vertical and liked it even more. I lived near a carpenter and asked him to give it a base, because it seemed interesting, and he told me: ‘So now you’re picking up everything...’
Then I made a piece with a cigar, but I didn’t like it much so I put it aside. The hammer piece came much later, before the Dau al Set exhibition at the Sala Caralt, in 1951: it symbolises nothing. First I chose an upholsterer’s hammer, but I preferred one that my father used when he was a stagehand and was still at home; to identify it as his he had engraved a "B" on the handle. The manipulation of the playing card was inspired by a box of games I’d been given for Christmas, which had half cards. The relationship between the hammer and the card does not symbolise anything, but it certainly has some meaning and I like it when someone explains it to me... I don’t think I showed any of this to Prats, because I was still trying things out and wanted to be sure.
Permanyer, Lluís: Brossa x Brossa: records. Barcelona: La Campana, 1999, pp. 76–77
Technical details
- Original title:
- Poema experimental
- Registration number:
- 4744
- Artist:
- Brossa, Joan
- Date created:
- 1950
- Date acquired:
- 2012
- Fonds:
- MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium
- Object type:
- Object
- Media:
- Iron, printed paper and wood
- Dimensions:
- 4.5 x 25.5 x 36 cm (height x width x depth)
- Credits:
- MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium. Joan Brossa Fund. Long-term loan of Fundació Joan Brossa
- Copyright:
- © Fundació Joan Brossa, VEGAP, Barcelona
- It has accessibility resources:
- No
The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.
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