''Monument to the Lycée Chases'' is a 1989 installation piece by French artist
Christian Boltanski. In 2006, it was purchased by the
University of Michigan Museum of Art.
Creation
Boltanski first drew the piece out on paper, using pencil, colored pencil, and ink on graph paper mounted on board.
That sketch, created 1987–1989, is owned by the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
.
Description
The piece consists of three large
gelatin silver prints, which are portraits of adolescents. Around them are eight smaller gelatin prints, as well as 64 lightbulbs.
The wiring for the lightbulbs is draped across the photos haphazardly.
The piece was inspired by a found photo of the 1931 graduating class from a private Jewish school in
Vienna, Austria
en, Viennese
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.
Kay Larson
Kay Larson is an American art critic, columnist, author, and Buddhist practitioner. She wrote a column of art criticism for New York (magazine), ''New York'' magazine for 14 years. Her writing about art and Buddhism has appeared in numerous pub ...
, writing for ''
New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...
'' in 1989, said, "The knowledge that these children were real, that they may still be walking among us unrecognized and adult–unless they all died in the concentration camps–moves Boltanski out of
solipsism."
External links
"ART VIEW; Boltanski's Haunting Fragments of Despair," 1988 ''New York Times'' article
References
1989 sculptures
Installation art works
Light art
Portrait art
French sculpture
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