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This posthumously published essay presents Hans De Wolf's sharp analysis of one of the greatest rivalries in art history: a rivalry between two centuries, embodied by two of their most prominent figures: Courbet for the 19th and Duchamp for the 20th Century. It is a story in which, in a certain sense, one becomes the perfect enemy of the other. This constellation helped Duchamp to forge his own path, creating an artistic response to Courbet's work with equal relevance and monumentality. The character of this confrontation places the analysis in a historical context that is not purely artistic, not purely historical, and not purely aesthetic. For this reason, it is titled Decorum. For the author, Marcel Broodthaers' installation Décor, which seeks to visualize the 19th and 2th centuries, becomes one of the most important and radical turning points in the history of the 20th Century: a turning point as a metaphor for the reunification of two centuries and the two protagonists who dominated them so profoundly.

Biografie

Hans De Wolf (1961-2025) was an art historian and professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where he pioneered Belgium’s first PhD in the Arts. His doctoral thesis on Marcel Duchamp's La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même (2002) marked the beginning of his influential academic career. Since 1998, De Wolf has developed numerous exhibition projects at major institutions like the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Museum für Moderne Kunst, both in Berlin. In 2004, De Wolf was appointed Professor of Art History and Aesthetics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. That same year, the Palais des Beaux-Arts invited him as a senior consultant to further develop relationships with Germany. In 2009, he was commissioned by the Brussels Regional Government to lead Belgium’s first exhibition at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo, beginning a series of cultural diplomacy projects in cities like Beijing, Seoul, and Gwangju. In recent years, he has played a significant role in shaping the cultural programming of Pilar – House of Art & Science at VUB Brussels, and contributed to the opening of the Usquare Brussels cultural venue in 2024, where he brought Geraldine Tobe's work into the permanent collection. De Wolf’s work bridges the fields of art, academia, and international exchange, contributing significantly to Brussels' global cultural visibility.

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