Christian Boltanski (b. 1944)
Lot 349

Christian Boltanski (b. 1944)

Monuments

Closed15 October 2011

Price Realised

GBP 46,850

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Christian Boltanski (b. 1944)
Monuments
fifty panels and five photographs in artist's frames and fifteen electric bulbs
overall: 87¼ x 42 7/8 x 3in. (222 x 109 x 7.6cm.)
Executed in 1985

Elisabeth Kaufmann Collection, Basel.
Locksley Shea Gallery, Minneapolis.
Estate of John M. and Marion A. Shea, Christie's New York, 19 November 1997, lot 341.
Private Collection, Portugal.
Anon. sale, Sotheby's Paris, 8 December 2009, lot 27.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Specialist note

This work is registered with the Boltanski archives under no. 0609.
'Yes there is something contradictory in my work, in that it is about relics but at the same time it's very much against relics. Part of my work has been about what I call 'small memory'. Large memory is recorded in books and small memory is all about little things: trivia, jokes. Part of my work then has been about trying to preserve 'small memory' that 'small memory' is what makes people different from one another, unique. These memories are very fragile; I wanted to save them.' (The artist quoted in 'Christian Boltanski Tamar Garb in Conversation', in Press Play; Contemporary Artists in Conversation, London 2005, p. 41).