An explorer of the infra-world of absence, Christian Boltanski came into the world in 1944 in an outraged Paris, in a broken Paris, in a martyred Paris but in a liberated Paris! Born in a Jewish family from Russia, Christian Boltanski and his work are both very marked by the painful scratches of history that precedes them. He follows his instinct and flees the benches of a school where he was bored.
The painting and writing to which he devotes his reflections about the biography. With fragments of a reality that he happens to make, the artist builds a true biographical mythology by reconstructing the moments of his childhood and his family life. He uses photography to stage himself, playing his own role in front of painted sets and creating objects that evoke toys or clothes from a young age.
The first presentation of his work takes place at the Ranelagh theater in Paris in 1968. The following year he published his first book “Research and presentation of all that remains of my childhood”. In the 1980s, he began the series of Monuments, geometric compositions of photographic portraits arranged in iron boxes. Enlightened by light bulbs or small desk lamps, these works bring together the legacy of Christian art.
Christian Boltanski (né en 1944)
The Docotr's Visit, 1974
Estimate: 3 000 / 5 000 euros
Since the early 1970s, his work has been the subject of major exhibitions as the Center Georges Pompidou in 1984 or the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Los Angeles (1988) and more recently to the Venice Biennale in 2011 where he represented France.
The series presented as part of the auction sale"collection Daniel Varenne II" by PIASA, were made in the mid-1970s. Composed of twelve photographs laminated on PVC, the first, entitled "Model images", is proposed with an estimate of between 5 000 and 7 000 euros. The second, The Doctor's Visit, consists of six silver prints pasted on cardboard.
Christian Boltanski (né en 1944)
Les images modéles, 1975
Estimate 5 000 / 7 000 euros
