Christian Liberté Boltanski (6 September 1944 – 14 July 2021) was a French sculptor, photographer, painter, and film maker. He is best known for his photography installations and contemporary French conceptual style.

Early life

Boltanski was born in Paris on 6 September 1944. His father, Étienne Alexandre Boltanski,BoltanskiBUENOS AIRES
, bio(graphy), on the website of the 2012 project, accessed 26 June 2019Christian Boltanski: Documentation and Reiteration
Guggenheim Museum, accessed 26 June 2019 He dropped out of school at age 12.

Early career

Boltanski began creating art in the late 1950s, but did not rise to prominence until almost a decade later through a few short, avant-garde films and some published notebooks in which he referenced his childhood. He had his first one-man exhibition at the Théâtre Le Ranelagh in May 1968. His earliest works included imagery of ideal families and imaginary lifestyles (something Boltanski always lacked), made to display as if they were in museums.

Installation art

Boltanski began creating mixed media/materials installations in 1986 with light as essential concept. Tin boxes, altar-like construction of framed and manipulated photographs (e.g. ''Le Lycée Chases'', 1986–1987), photographs of Jewish schoolchildren taken in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 1931, used as a forceful reminder of mass murder of Jews by the Nazis, all those elements and materials used in his work are used in order to represent deep contemplation regarding reconstruction of past. While creating ''Reserve'' (exhibition at Museum für Gegenwartskunst in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in 1989), Boltanski filled rooms and corridors with worn clothing items as a way of inciting profound sensation of human tragedy at

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

. As in his previous works, objects serve as relentless reminders of human experience and suffering.Christian Boltanski: About this artist

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

His piece, '' Monument (Odessa)'', uses six photographs of Jewish students in 1939 and lights to resemble Yahrzeit candles to honor and remember the dead. "My work is about the fact of dying, but it's not about the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

itself." In 1971 Boltanski produced his installation, ''L' Album de la famille D. 1939-1964''. Additionally, his enormous installation titled "No Man's Land" (2010) at the Park Avenue Armory in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, is a great example of how his constructions and installations trace the lives of the lost and forgotten.

Exhibitions

Boltanski participated in over 150 art exhibitions throughout the world. Among others, he had solo exhibitions at the New Museum (1988), the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Magasin 3 in Stockholm, the La Maison Rouge gallery, Institut Mathildenhöhe, the Kewenig Galerie, The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme, and many others. In 2002, Boltanski made the installation ''Totentanz II'', a shadow installation with copper figures, for the underground Centre for International Light Art (CILA) in Unna, Germany. Nine years later, the Es Baluard museum in

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

exhibited ''Signatures'' from July to September 2011. The installation was conceived by Boltanski specifically for Es Baluard and which is focused on the memory of the workers who in the 17th century built the museum's walls. In the winter of 2017–2018, Boltanski created a new installation for the Oude Kerk, titled ''After''. It tackled the theme of what will come after life has come to an end. The exhibition was shown from November 2017 until April 2018.

Personal life

Boltanski was married to

Annette Messager Annette Messager (born 30 November 1943) is a French visual artist. She is known for championing the techniques and materials of outsider art. In 2005, she won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale for her artwork at the French pavilion, F ...

, who is also a contemporary artist, until his death. They chose not to have children. They lived in Malakoff, outside Paris. He was the brother of sociologist Luc Boltanski and uncle of writer Christophe Boltanski. Boltanski died on 14 July 2021 at

Hôpital Cochin The Hôpital Cochin () is a hospital of public assistance in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques Paris 14e. It houses the central burn treatment centre of the city. The Hôpital Cochin is a section of the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Cité. It commem ...

in Paris. He was 76, and suffered from an unspecified illness prior to his death. Following his death, the artist's

moral rights Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and, to a lesser extent, in some common law jurisdictions. The moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work p ...

— which prerogatives are the right of disclosure, the right of respect of the works' integrity and the right to authorship - were passed on to Angelika Markul.

Gallery

File:Christian Boltanski sculpture in Folkestone.jpg, Sound installation ''The Whispers'', Folkestone Triennal (2008) File:Krypta (Salzburger Dom) room 2 - Vanitas by Christian Boltanski.jpg, ''Vanitas'', Salzburger Dom 2008. File:Christian Boltanski. Signatures.jpg, ''Signatures'', 2011 File:Les habitants de l'hôtel de Saint-Aignan en 1939 (détail), Christian Boltanski - Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme - Boltanski.jpg, ''The inhabitants of the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan in 1939'' (1998) – Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme File:Christian Boltanski Chance 9 JAN - 23 MAR 2014 at Carriageworks.jpg, ''Chance'', 2014 File:Christian-Boltanski-portrait.jpg, Christian Boltanski, 1990 File:Christian Boltanski - IVAM.jpg, Christian Boltanski, 2015

Prizes

*1994 Kunstpreis Aachen *1996 Rolandpreis für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum *2007 billionéateurs sans frontières award for visual arts by Cultures France *2006 Praemium Imperiale Award by the Japan Art Association *2001 Goslarer Kaiserring, Goslar, Germany *2001 Kunstpreis, given by Nord/LB, Braunschweig, Germany *2006 Praemium Imperiale award for sculpture, Japan

Works and installations

* 1969 "L'Homme qui tousse" * 1973 "Inventory of Objects Belonging to a Young Man of Oxford" *1988 "Christian Boltanski: Lessons of Darkness" *1989 '' Monument to the Lycée Chases'' * 1990 "Reserve of Dead Swiss (Réserve de Suisses morts)" * 1994 Christian Boltanski: Dead or Alive * 2002 "Totentanz II" * 2010 "No Man's Land" * 2010: "People (Personnes)" * 2014 "Animitas" * 2017 "After" *2017 "Mysteries"