Robert Filliou | Poussière de Poussière

Robert Filliou

Poussière de Poussière 

Paris, France: Edition La Boutique Aberrante, Daniel Spoerri, 1977

6 x 16.8 x 12 cm.

Edition of 100

In the mid-seventies Michel Lacotte, curator and later director of the Louvre Museum of Arts, received an unusual request:

"Dear Friend,

As you might have heard, we are preparing a wonderful show by Daniel Spoerri, that will be called "The Sentimental Museum". Spoerri has been in contact with Henri de Cazals in order to get information on certain rare and curious objects which will appear in this show.

Concurrently, Spoerri hopes to create a "Boutique aberrante" that will sell examples of artistic fetish objects for the profit of international organizations. Numerous artists have shown an interest in bringing their wares to this show, among them Robert Filiou, one of the Fluxus group. He would like your permission to dust the frames of a number of famous paintings in the Museum. His intention is to sell, within the context of the "Boutique aberrante", the dust clothes [sic] accompanied by a photograph proving that they are in fact the dust cloths that cleaned "The Man with a Glove", "The Mona Lisa" etc.

I know that at first glance this request could seem rather bizarre, however, at the same time I know that I can count on your understanding.

I, am hoping you wilfbe able to accommodate Filliou, Spoerri, and myself. In awaiting your reply I remain,

Sincerely yours,

Pontus Hulten

Director

Centre Pompidou”

The resulting edition consists of a rubber-stamped cardboard box with a stapled photograph and a duster, each unique.  

There’s very little information about "Boutique Aberrante”, but the various boxes contain dust collected from works by Yves Klein, Marcel Duchamp, Magritte, Da Vinci and others. One sold at Christies auction in 2009 for 2,500 Euros, 500 more than its high estimate.

The work can be viewed as a companion piece to Flux Dust [see previous post]. 

Issue #23/24 of Impressions magazine (1980, edited by Isaac Applebaum and Lorne Fromer and designed by Suzy Lake) featured Filliou's 1977 work Poussière de Poussière as a four page spread. Excerpts are below.

"In this instance, the artist quest involved cleaning works of art within public collections in Paris and presenting the dusty cloths along with a small photograph of the action in archive style boxes, as if 'the aura of original work could be presented as a relic.' "

- Amy Fowler, Quests for the Lost and Found