View source for Christian Boltanski

{{Short description|French sculptor and artist (1944–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Christian Boltanski
| image         = Christian Boltanski (UNTREF - Bienal Sur 2016) (cropped).jpg
| image_size    =
| caption       = Boltanski in 2016
| birth_name    = Christian Liberté Boltanski
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1944|9|6|df=y}}
| birth_place   = Paris, France
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2021|7|14|1944|9|6|df=y}}
| death_place   = Paris, France
| known_for     = Sculpture, painting, photography, [[installation art]]
| training      =
| movement      = [[Conceptual art]]
| notable_works = 
}}
'''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 art|conceptual style]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/christian-boltanski/|title=Christian Boltanski {{!}} artnet|website=www.artnet.com|access-date=22 July 2016}}</ref>

==Early life==
Boltanski was born in Paris on 6 September 1944.<ref name=France24>{{cite news|title=Top contemporary French artist Christian Boltanski dies aged 76|url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210714-top-contemporary-french-artist-christian-boltanski-dies-aged-76|date=14 July 2021|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=France 24|agency=Agence France-Presse}}</ref><ref name=Artforum>{{cite news|title=Christian Boltanski (1944–2021)|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/christian-boltanski-1944-2021-86225|date=14 July 2021|accessdate=14 July 2021|magazine=Artforum}}</ref>  His father, Étienne Alexandre Boltanski,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jzj3CQAAQBAJ&dq=%22%C3%89tienne+Alexandre+Boltanski%22&pg=PT66|title = La cache|isbn = 9782234076747|last1 = Boltanski|first1 = Christophe|date = 19 August 2015| publisher=Stock }}</reF> a physician, was Jewish and had come to France from Russia, while Marie-Elise Ilari-Guérin, his Roman Catholic mother originated from [[Corsica]], descended from Ukrainian Jews.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Genzlinger|first=Neil|date=17 July 2021|title=Christian Boltanski, Whose Art Installations Dazzled, Dies at 76|language=en-US|volume=170|page=B12|work=New York Times|issue=59122|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/15/arts/christian-boltanski-dead.html|access-date=17 July 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His Jewish heritage was a large influence in Boltanski's household. During [[World War II]], while living in Paris, his father escaped deportation by hiding in a space under the floorboards of the family apartment for a year and a half. Christian grew up with this knowledge, and his early experiences with wartime affairs deeply affected him. These experiences would influence his artwork later on.<ref name="Grand">[http://www.artcult.fr/_News/Fiche/art-0-1315069.htm Christian Boltanski au Grand Palais], 12 January 2012, accessed 26 June 2019</ref><ref name="Buenos">[http://boltanskibsas.com.ar/php/bio/?lang=en BoltanskiBUENOS AIRES] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115104127/http://boltanskibsas.com.ar/php/bio/?lang=en |date=15 January 2023 }}, bio(graphy), on the website of the 2012 project, accessed 26 June 2019</ref><ref name="Guggenheim">[https://www.guggenheim.org/arts-curriculum/topic/christian-boltanski Christian Boltanski: Documentation and Reiteration], Guggenheim Museum, accessed 26 June 2019</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/christian-boltanski-2305|title=Christian Boltanski, 'The Reserve of Dead Swiss' 1990|website=Tate|access-date=22 July 2016}}</ref> He had his first one-man exhibition at the [[Théâtre Le Ranelagh]] in May 1968.<ref name=France24/><ref name=Artforum/>  His earliest works included imagery of ideal families and imaginary lifestyles (something Boltanski always lacked), made to display as if they were in museums.<ref name=Artforum/>

==Installation art==
[[File:Le Lycée Chases, 1986-1987, Christian Boltanski at Rubell DC 2022.jpg|thumb|right|''Le Lycée Chases'' (1986-1987) at the [[Rubell Museum#Rubell Museum DC|Rubell Museum DC]] in 2022]]
Boltanski began creating mixed media/materials installations in 1986 with light as essential concept. Tin boxes, altar-like construction of framed and manipulated<ref>{{cite web|last=Borger|first=Irene|title=Christian Boltanski|url=http://bombsite.com/issues/26/articles/1148|publisher=[[BOMB Magazine]]|access-date=15 May 2013|quote=IB: This touches on the newer work, you have rephotographed and enlarged a portrait of a high school class, in such a way that the information in the pictures is no longer very specific and detailed. You're really asking the spectator to fill it in.  CB: You mean the Lycee Chases? CB The less information you have, the more open the work, the more you can think about it.|archive-date=16 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130416003526/http://bombsite.com/issues/26/articles/1148|url-status=dead}}</ref>  photographs (e.g. ''Le Lycée Chases'', 1986–1987), photographs of Jewish schoolchildren taken in [[Vienna]] in 1931,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Exchange: Monument to the Lycée Chases|url=https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/5808|access-date=10 November 2020|website=exchange.umma.umich.edu}}</ref> used as a forceful reminder of [[Holocaust|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 of Contemporary Art (Basel)|Museum für Gegenwartskunst]] in [[Basel]] in 1989), Boltanski filled rooms and corridors with worn clothing items as a way of inciting profound sensation of human tragedy at [[concentration camps]]. As in his previous works, objects serve as relentless reminders of human experience and suffering.<ref name=MoMA>[http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=649 Christian Boltanski: About this artist], [[Oxford University Press]]</ref> His piece, '' Monument (Odessa)'', uses six photographs of Jewish students in 1939 and lights to resemble [[Yahrzeit candle]]s to honor and remember the dead. "My work is about the fact of dying, but it's not about the [[Holocaust]] itself."<ref>[https://archive.today/20120912054533/http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=28216&artistlist=1&aid=1098 Monument (Odessa)] [[Jewish Museum (New York)|Jewish Museum]]</ref> In 1971 Boltanski produced his installation, ''L' Album de la famille D. 1939-1964''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Christian Boltanski|url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/boltanski-christian/|access-date=31 July 2022}}</ref> 

Additionally, his enormous installation titled "No Man's Land" (2010) at the [[Park Avenue Armory]] in [[New York City]], is a great example of how his constructions and installations trace the lives of the lost and forgotten.<ref>{{cite journal|last=McAdams|first=Shane|title=CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI No Man's Land|journal=The Brooklyn Rail|date=8 July 2010|issue=July–August 2010|url=http://brooklynrail.org/2010/07/artseen/christian-boltanski-no-mans-land}}</ref> Also in 2010, Boltanski unveiled the [[Les Archives du Cœur]] on [[Teshima]], an island in [[Japan]], which has since recorded and archived the heartbeats of many visitors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=db |first=fiona |date=2010-08-08 |title=christian boltanski: the heart archive |url=https://www.designboom.com/art/christian-boltanski-the-heart-archive/ |access-date=2025-08-17 |website=designboom {{!}} architecture & design magazine |language=en}}</ref>

==Exhibitions==
Boltanski participated in over 150 art exhibitions throughout the world.<ref name="Christian Boltanski biography">{{cite web|title=Christian Boltanski biography|url=http://i1.exhibit-e.com/mariangoodman/e5651959.pdf|publisher=Marian Goodman gallery}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Among others, he had solo exhibitions at the [[New Museum]] (1988), the [[Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein]], Magasin 3 in Stockholm,<ref>[https://www.magasin3.com/en/ Magasin 3 in Stockholm]</ref> the [[La Maison Rouge]] gallery, Institut Mathildenhöhe, the Kewenig Galerie, The [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme]], and many others.<ref name="Christian Boltanski biography"/>

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.<ref name=Baumgardner>{{cite news|title=Everything Is Illuminated: Meet Germany's Centre for International Light Art|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/everything-is-illuminated-meet-germanys-centre-for-international-light-art-59823/|first=Julie|last=Baumgardner|date=31 July 2014|accessdate=14 July 2021|magazine=Art in America}}</ref> Nine years later, the [[Es Baluard]] museum in [[Mallorca]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Christian Boltanski Describes 'Signatures'|url=https://www.esbaluard.org/en/multimedias/christian-boltanski-describes-signatures/|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=Es Baluard}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Boltanski: "Artista es el que provoca emociones"|url=https://www.abc.es/cultura/abci-culturaarte-entrevistachristianboltanski-201107080000_noticia.html?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F|first=Javier|last=Díaz-Guardiola|date=7 July 2011|accessdate=14 July 2021|newspaper=ABC|location=Madrid}} {{in lang|es}}</ref>

In the winter of 2017–2018, Boltanski created a new installation for the [[Oude Kerk (Amsterdam)|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.<ref name=WSI>{{cite news|title=Christian Boltanski|url=https://wsimag.com/art/34209-christian-boltanski|date=19 December 2017|accessdate=14 July 2021|magazine=Wall Street International}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Boltanski was married to [[Annette Messager]], who is also a contemporary artist, until his death. They chose not to have children.<ref name=France24/> They lived in [[Malakoff, Hauts-de-Seine|Malakoff]], outside Paris. He was the brother of sociologist [[Luc Boltanski]] and uncle of writer [[Christophe Boltanski]].<ref>{{cite news|title=La Cache|url=https://www.albertine.com/staff-picks/la-cache/|first=Miriam|last=Bridenne|date=3 September 2015|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=Albertine|location=New York City}}</ref>

Boltanski died on 14 July 2021 at [[Hôpital Cochin]] in Paris. He was 76, and suffered from an unspecified illness prior to his death.<ref name=France24/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2021/07/14/l-artiste-plasticien-christian-boltanski-est-mort_6088254_3382.html|title=L'artiste plasticien Christian Boltanski est mort|work=Le Monde|date=14 July 2021|access-date=14 July 2021}}</ref>

Following his death, the artist's [[moral rights]] — 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 ==
<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
</gallery>

==Prizes==
*1994 Kunstpreis Aachen<ref>{{cite web|title=Kunstpreis Aachen|url=https://www.aachen.de/DE/Stadt_buerger/aachen_profil/preise_auszeichnungen/aachener_kunstpreis/index.html|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=Stadt Aachen}}</ref>
*1996 [[:de:Rolandpreis_für_Kunst_im_öffentlichen_Raum|Rolandpreis für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum]]
*2007&nbsp;billionéateurs sans frontières award for visual arts by Cultures France<ref name="Marian Goodman Gallery">{{cite web|title=Marian Goodman Gallery|url=http://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/christian-boltanski/|publisher=Marian Goodman Gallery|access-date=4 May 2011}}</ref>
*2006 [[Praemium Imperiale]] Award by the Japan Art Association<ref name=Artforum/><ref name="Marian Goodman Gallery"/>
*2001 Goslarer Kaiserring, Goslar, Germany<ref name=Artforum/><ref name="Marian Goodman Gallery"/>
*2001 Kunstpreis, given by Nord/LB, Braunschweig, Germany<ref name=Artforum/><ref name="Marian Goodman Gallery"/>
*2006 Praemium Imperiale award for sculpture, Japan<ref>{{Cite web|date=14 July 2021|title=Christian Boltanski (1944–2021)|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/christian-boltanski-1944-2021-86225|url-status=live|access-date=17 July 2021|website=Artforum|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714184122/https://www.artforum.com/news/christian-boltanski-1944-2021-86225 |archive-date=14 July 2021 }}</ref>

== Works and installations ==
* 1969 "L'Homme qui tousse"<ref>{{cite web|title=L'Homme qui tousse|url=https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cnyKXdn|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=Centre Pompidou}} {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
* 1973 "Inventory of Objects Belonging to a Young Man of Oxford"<ref>{{cite web|title=Inventory of Objects Belonging to a Young Man of Oxford: Christian Boltanski|url=https://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/event/inventory-objects-beloning-young-man-oxford-christian-boltanski/|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=Modern Art Oxford}}</ref>
*1988 "Christian Boltanski: Lessons of Darkness"<ref>{{Cite news|last=Brenson|first=Michael|date=9 December 1988|title=Review/Art: Mechanics of Memory|language=en-US|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/09/arts/review-art-mechanics-of-memory.html|access-date=17 July 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
*1989 ''[[Monument to the Lycée Chases]]''<ref>{{cite web|title=Monument to the Lycée Chases|url=https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/5808/view|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=University of Michigan Museum of Art}}</ref>
* 1990 "Reserve of Dead Swiss (Réserve de Suisses morts)"<ref>{{cite web|title=Réserve de Suisses morts, 1991|url=https://www.macba.cat/en/art-artists/artists/boltanski-christian/reserve-suisses-morts|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art}}</ref>
* 1994 Christian Boltanski: Dead or Alive<ref>{{Cite web |title=Watch Christian Boltanski : Dead or Alive ? (Documentary Film) |url=https://www.thedarkroomrumour.com/en/film/christian-boltanski-dead-or-alive-a-film-by-gerald-fox |access-date=2023-04-21 |website=www.thedarkroomrumour.com |language=en}}</ref>
* 2002 "Totentanz II"<ref name=Baumgardner/>
* 2010 "No Man's Land"<ref>{{cite news|title=Exploring Mortality With Clothes and a Claw|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/arts/design/10boltanski.html|first=Dorothy|last=Spears|date=9 May 2010|access-date=14 July 2021|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>
* 2010: "People (Personnes)"<ref>{{cite news|title=Christian Boltanski: Personnes|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jan/17/christian-boltanski-personnnes-paris-review|first=Laura|last=Cumming|author-link=Laura Cumming|date=17 January 2010|access-date=14 July 2021|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London}}</ref>
* 2014 "Animitas"<ref>{{cite web|title=Christian Boltanski, Animitas|url=https://www.noguchi.org/museum/exhibitions/view/christian-boltanski-animitas/|accessdate=14 July 2021|publisher=Noguchi Museum}}</ref>
* 2017 "After"<ref name=WSI/>
*2017 "Mysteries"<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=Mysteries, by Christian Boltanski|url=https://www.bellasartes.gob.ar/en/exhibitions/-84/|url-status=live|access-date=17 July 2021|website=Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717110408/https://www.bellasartes.gob.ar/en/exhibitions/-84/ |archive-date=17 July 2021 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Tamar Garb]], Didier Semin, Donald Kuspit, "Christian Boltanski", [[Phaidon Press|Phaidon]], London, 1997.
* [[Bracha L. Ettinger]], ''Matrix et le Voyage à Jerusalem de C.B.'' [Conversation/Interview with Christian Boltanski 1989, 60 portrait photographs of C.B next to his works in his studio, by BRACHA, 1990, and notebook fragments 1985-1989]. Artist's book. Paris: BLE Atelier, 1991.
* Lynn Gumpert and [[Mary Jane Jacob]], "Christian Boltanski: Lessons of Darkness," Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, 1988.
* Didier Semin, "Christian Boltanski," Paris, Art Press, 1988.
* Nancy Marmer, "Christian Boltanski: The Uses of Contradiction," "Art in America," October 1989, pp.&nbsp;168–181, 233–235.
* Lynn Gumpert, "Christian Boltanski," Paris, Flammarion, 1984.

==External links==
{{Commonscat|Christian Boltanski}}
* [http://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/christian-boltanski/ Marian Goodman Gallery]
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/christian-boltanski-talking-art Interview] in ''[[Tate Magazine]]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090803221259/http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.3829957/ ICP: Christian Boltanski]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090517062300/http://www.folkestonetriennial.org.uk/index.php/artists/biography/christian-boltanski/ Folkestone Triennial: Christian Boltanski]
* {{in lang|fr|cap=yes}} [http://www.moreeuw.com/histoire-art/christian-boltanski.htm Christian Boltanski]
* [http://www.kunstaspekte.de/index.php?action=webpages&k=151 Exhibitions listed at kunstaspekte.de]
* [http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=649 MoMA profile]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110824101142/http://phomul.canalblog.com/archives/boltanski__christian/index.html Art Icono]
* [http://www.magasin3.com/v1/exhibitions/boltanski.html Magasin 3: Christian Boltanski]
* [http://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/artist/christian-boltanski-french-b-1944 The Jewish Museum]

{{ACArt}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boltanski, Christian}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century French painters]]
[[Category:20th-century French sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century French male artists]]
[[Category:21st-century French painters]]
[[Category:21st-century French male artists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the École des Beaux-Arts]]
[[Category:French conceptual artists]]
[[Category:French contemporary artists]]
[[Category:20th-century French Jews]]
[[Category:French male painters]]
[[Category:French male sculptors]]
[[Category:French mixed-media artists]]
[[Category:French people of Corsican descent]]
[[Category:French people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:French photographers]]
[[Category:Jewish French painters]]
[[Category:Jewish French sculptors]]
[[Category:Postmodern artists]]