L'album photographique de Christian Boltanski 1948-1956

  • 1998
  • Christian Boltanski
  • Facsimile of a selection of photographed documents
  • 22,3 x 16,2 x 5,5 cm

Emblematic of his oeuvre, Christian Boltanski’s 1948-1956 Photo Album brings together thirty-two photographs produced by his partner Annette Messager in 1972, in which he plays himself between the ages of four and twelve. This autobiographical and fictional reconstruction in which the adult Boltanski portrays the child Boltanski, produces burlesque effects by the play of scale on his body, which is too big and placed in environments which are too small. Each image is captioned, as in any family album, reinforcing the narrative and emotional dimension of the object.

© Adagp, Paris, 2020. Photo © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage

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Christian Boltanski

Boltanski is a leading figure in contemporary art, considered as France’s most influential living artist. Since 1967, he has developed an artistic style that embraces writing, film, sculpture and photography. With a focus on remembrance and time, he works with biographical milestones and references, from both his own life and the lives of unknown or unidentified persons, and combines true and fictional tales in an attempt at “reconstitution”.

He follows the twisting paths of individual and collective destinies using personal and impersonal elements of great evocative power – photographs, newspapers, archives, clothes, designing installations with formal and emotional intensity. The theme of memory and its corollary, an obsession with avoiding forgetfulness and oblivion, is central to his vision, as is the ability to invent legends and myths. 


Christian Boltanski was born in Paris (France) in 1944. He lives and works in Malakoff, in the South‑West of Paris. In 2018, his solo exhibitions took place in Shanghai (China), Jerusalem (Israel), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Tokyo (Japan), Edinburgh (UK), Valencia (Spain) and Monterrey (Mexico). He also participated in group exhibitions in international institutions such as The Jewish Museum (New York, USA), the Pinchuk Art Centre (Kyiv, Ukraine), The Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)… He took over the 2010 edition of Monumenta in Paris (France) and represented France at the Venice Biennale in 2011. He received, among other prestigious prizes, the Kunstpreis from Nord/LB, Braunschweig in 2001 and the Praemium Imperiale Award from the Japan Art Association in 2006.

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