| |
|
|
 (Click for larger image) 
Boltanski, Christian.
LES DOCUMENTS PHOTOGRAPHIQUES QUI SUIVENT M'ONT ETE TRANSMIS PAR LUIS CABALLERO ("PHOTOGRAPHS FOUND AND ASSEMBLED FROM THE COLLECTION OF LUIS CABALLERO") .
Paris, France: Self-Published, 1991. Softcover. First Edition/First Printing. 12 pages. As New. Artist Book. Limited Edition of 900 copies. Originally published in 1969, this is a new edition by the artist/photographer. An austerely elegant production by Christian Boltanski: Small-size volume format. Simple white softcovers with titles on cover, as issued. Stapled at the hinge. Photographs collected by Christian Boltanski. Brief texts in French. Without DJ, as issued. Presents photographs as memento mori, in the form of five seemingly ordinary pictures with accompanying text commentary en face. The photographs are the typical ones people take whether they are doing simple household chores like feeding the baby ("La femme porte un bebe sur les genoux") or posing for a souvenir photo of a tourist trip ("L'homme a la main posee sur l'epaule de la femme"). The rest of each text is the artist/photographer ruminating on the "story" behind the picture, that is to say, the significance of the photograph in particular, and photography in general, in a manner reminiscent of Roland Barthes' "Camera Lucida", one of the most important critical books on photography. All of the photographs were found and re-assembled in this Artist Book by Christian Boltanski from the private collection of his friend, Luis Caballero, the Colombian-born photographer who has been based in Paris for a long time. Boltanski's impact on art and photography is finally being recognized: He began his career as a painter of huge canvases and then, facing a crucial personal crisis, abandoned painting permanently to pursue less conventional and more conceptual ways of creating art out of the debris of history and daily life objects. For Boltanski, every human activity, however mundane, is sacred and is the basis of all true art. "Boltanski has spent his artistic life working with the most ephemeral of materials (newspaper clippings, photographs, found snapshots, clothing, candles, light bulbs, old biscuit tins) to examine and to mark our transitory passing here on earth. Using the photograph as a central image of his work, Boltanski explores the perceived truth of the photograph and how it is often used as a shield against death. Using photographs from grade-school portraits, obituaries, tabloids, social clubs, and other common sources, Boltanski notes that the photograph can summon up not only a particular person who may have passed from this earth but indeed entire groups of people. By mining memories that may be conjured by these innocent photographs, Boltanski demonstrates the significance of the photograph to our understanding of memory, loss, and death". One of the artist/photographer's most affecting printed installations. This is an Import title and was not distributed outside of France. This is the only copy available online and has no flaws, a pristine beauty. A very scarce copy thus. Three of Christian Boltanski's books were selected as among the greatest photography books in "The Photobook". One of the greatest artist/photographers of the 20th century. A flawless copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). $125.00 |
