Christian Boltanski
Monument
Artist
Christian Boltanski
(1944, Paris - 2021, Paris), French
Original Title
Monument
Date1986
Mediumblack and white photograph, colour photographs, light bulbs and electric wire
Classificationsinstallations
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
Copyright2018 Christian Boltanski, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
DescriptionFrench artist Christian Boltanski used art to both directly and indirectly thematize the Nazi genocide and related topics of life and death, identity, memory, and loss of personal and cultural history. These topics simultaneously hold the potential to be continuously reinvented in relation to contemporary lived experiences and the individual experiences of viewers. In his installations, which combine delicate irony, theatrical dimensions, and conceptual elements, Boltanski commonly worked with photographic portraits, newspaper and magazine clippings, postcards, biscuit tins, toys, and discarded clothing. His early works, created from 1958 onward, addressed the recent experience of the Nazi occupation of France. These works also drew more extensively on Boltanski’s own family history while also intentionally blending reality and fiction, producing a broader and less literal interpretative framework. The second half of the 1960s saw his work develop a distinctive artistic style and simultaneously achieve recognition, with Boltanski primarily focusing on the relationship between mythology and collective memory. His work thematizes stories and motifs linked to Judaism; however, these are merged with other elements rooted in varied traditions—such as Catholic liturgy, Corsican irony, Slavic spirituality, and French elegance—reflecting Boltanski’s complicated cultural heritage. In this context, he was interested in the possibilities of photographs, which can awaken painful memories but simultaneously also helps combat the loss of memory or human lives and wrongdoings. Boltanski collected photographs from postcards, newspapers, police registers, and family albums, composing them into larger groupings and installations. In the late 1980s, he began creating installations from discarded clothing, which can be understood as analogous to photography and as a memorial to people who have passed away. These works revolved around powerful associations, stirring thoughts about human bodies and the people who could have worn the garments, and also evoked the storage rooms full of clothing in concentration camps. Such installations explored questions of death and history, yet, as is common for Boltanski’s artworks, they did not provide the viewer with an unequivocal message, instead inviting contemplation about human life, the importance of the individual, and the inevitability of being forgotten.
Boltanski’s Monument (1986) is part of a larger series of existential altars. It is based on work with an extensive archive of photographs of Jewish children, taken before and during World War II. The altar, composed of green, yellow, and grey abstract photographic plates, is topped by a black-and-white portrait of a Jewish girl, whose emotive expression is accentuated by the light from the surrounding lightbulbs, awakening strong devotional feelings in the viewer and generating a feeling of anxiety and an awareness of the gradual blurring of memory. Boltanski used these altars and the juxtaposition of photographs with empty surfaces to demonstrate the close relation between memory and remembrance of the dead—both individual and collective memory have limited lifespans, after which they irreversibly dissipate.
Christian Boltanski (1944, Paris – 2021, Paris) was a self-taught artist who began creating works in the late 1950s. The point of departure for his art was a story from his family history about his dad, a Ukrainian Jew, hiding from the Nazi’s during World War II. In 1968, Boltanski had his first solo exhibition, titled La vie impossible de Christian Boltanski (The Impossible Life of Christian Boltanski), at the Théâtre le Ranelagh in Paris. From the 1970s onward, his work featured in numerous important exhibitions. Boltanski’s most recent solo exhibitions took place at renowned institutions such as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (2019); the Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo (2019); the National Museum of Art in Osaka, the National Art Gallery in Tokyo (2019); the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (2018); the Power Station of Art in Shanghai (2018); the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires (2017); the Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna (2017); the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, Mexico (2016); the Instituto Valenciano Arte Moderno (IVAM) (2016); MACS Grand-Hornu in Belgium (2015), and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago de Chile (2014).
Throughout his life, Boltanski received several awards, including the Praemium Imperiale Award for sculpture (2006), awarded by the Japan Art Association, the Kaiser Ring Award (2001), awarded by the city of Goslar, and the Nord/LB art prize awarded by the city of Braunschweig (2001). He also repeatedly exhibited at the Documenta festival in Kassel (1972 and 1977) and at the Venice Biennale (1975, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2011). The first presentation of his work in Prague was a solo exhibition titled Dark Hours, which took place in 1994. His work also featured in the exhibition I, Undoubdtedly, held at the Galerie Rudolfinum in 2011.
Boltanski’s Monument (1986) is part of a larger series of existential altars. It is based on work with an extensive archive of photographs of Jewish children, taken before and during World War II. The altar, composed of green, yellow, and grey abstract photographic plates, is topped by a black-and-white portrait of a Jewish girl, whose emotive expression is accentuated by the light from the surrounding lightbulbs, awakening strong devotional feelings in the viewer and generating a feeling of anxiety and an awareness of the gradual blurring of memory. Boltanski used these altars and the juxtaposition of photographs with empty surfaces to demonstrate the close relation between memory and remembrance of the dead—both individual and collective memory have limited lifespans, after which they irreversibly dissipate.
Christian Boltanski (1944, Paris – 2021, Paris) was a self-taught artist who began creating works in the late 1950s. The point of departure for his art was a story from his family history about his dad, a Ukrainian Jew, hiding from the Nazi’s during World War II. In 1968, Boltanski had his first solo exhibition, titled La vie impossible de Christian Boltanski (The Impossible Life of Christian Boltanski), at the Théâtre le Ranelagh in Paris. From the 1970s onward, his work featured in numerous important exhibitions. Boltanski’s most recent solo exhibitions took place at renowned institutions such as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (2019); the Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo (2019); the National Museum of Art in Osaka, the National Art Gallery in Tokyo (2019); the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (2018); the Power Station of Art in Shanghai (2018); the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires (2017); the Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna (2017); the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, Mexico (2016); the Instituto Valenciano Arte Moderno (IVAM) (2016); MACS Grand-Hornu in Belgium (2015), and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago de Chile (2014).
Throughout his life, Boltanski received several awards, including the Praemium Imperiale Award for sculpture (2006), awarded by the Japan Art Association, the Kaiser Ring Award (2001), awarded by the city of Goslar, and the Nord/LB art prize awarded by the city of Braunschweig (2001). He also repeatedly exhibited at the Documenta festival in Kassel (1972 and 1977) and at the Venice Biennale (1975, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2011). The first presentation of his work in Prague was a solo exhibition titled Dark Hours, which took place in 1994. His work also featured in the exhibition I, Undoubdtedly, held at the Galerie Rudolfinum in 2011.
Adam Štech
