Curatorial notes
Curator: This curious artwork is titled "Voyage sur l'Intrépide," and it was created by René Bertholo in 1967. It seems to be a mixed media collage. Editor: It feels like a blueprint, or perhaps instructions for building something. The handwritten text and diagrams give it a very technical, almost utilitarian vibe. It’s very…manual. Curator: Manual is right! Note how Bertholo integrates text—almost all hand-lettered—with schematic drawings and what appear to be instructions. This conflation of the visual and textual elevates everyday instructions into an art form, questioning the traditional divisions of art and craft. Editor: The title "Voyage sur l'Intrépide," juxtaposed with the construction diagram, makes me think of exploration and ingenuity, referencing, perhaps, the great age of naval discovery and humankind’s eternal yearning to conquer the unknown. The diagram itself resembles a vessel, or maybe even a simple child’s toy. Curator: Exactly! Bertholo, associated with the Portuguese Surrealist movement, often employed such unexpected juxtapositions to examine mass production, industrialization, and even consumerism. The means of production become part of the artwork's symbolic meaning. Editor: See the small circular icons with directions like N, S, E, O. I am immediately struck by the visual reminder that way-finding, cartography, navigation have ancient roots in symbolism. He is using the symbolic history of a boat as a framework. Even the cursive fonts evoke older eras, as do the precise angles. It reads to me like the artist has layered symbolic value onto functionalist design. Curator: Layering processes too. This mixed media work merges graphic art with collage. Its materials and construction challenge our understanding of art itself. Editor: Looking closer, that’s true. It uses symbolism and simple lines, to build meaning that's more powerful than it might seem at first glance. Bertholo has presented a puzzle for the ages. Curator: Indeed. And with that Bertholo takes us on a different sort of Intrepid journey. One to a place where consumerism, industrialization, art, and symbolism meet to engage, inform, and confound our modern notions of art and making.