Round Wooden Bar 1973

André Cadere, a Romanian artist working in Paris, made this Round Wooden Bar of painted wooden segments. Cadere began making these "Bâtons" in the early 1970s. He carried them around, presenting them in galleries and museums, but also outside of those established institutional settings. By moving his sculptures outside of the gallery, Cadere was consciously questioning the power of the art market to control the value and meaning of art. The Bâtons are visually simple, but conceptually rich. The segments are ordered in a repeating sequence, but each baton contains an intentional error or "mistake" in this order. This can be seen as a metaphor for the disruptions of social norms. It highlights how rules and conventions, whether in art or society, are not always fixed. As art historians, we can investigate the social and institutional contexts that gave rise to such works. Through interviews, archival research, and analysis of the art market, we can better understand the role of the artist in challenging these established power structures.