Lumieres (blue square - Sylvie)
Christian Boltanski
(French, 1944 – 2021)
2000
Medium/TechniqueForty-eight blue light bulbs and brass sockets, wires, copy of black and white photograph framed between Plexiglas and cardboard sealed with black tape.
Dimensions221 x 129.5 cm (87 x 51 in.)
Credit LineCatherine and Paul Buttenwieser Fund
Accession number2001.270
On View
Not on viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
Boltanski builds altars to memory and loss. Naked bulbs cast a ghostly blue glow around photos he finds at antique shops and flea markets. We cannot really make eye contact with “Sylvie,” who is out of focus and obscured by the wire; the piece mimics the way memories shift and fade. Boltanski was deeply affected by his Jewish father’s stories of hiding in Paris during World War II. We don’t know if Sylvie was also a hidden person, or even if Sylvie was Jewish, but Boltanski transforms her into an icon of humanity.
Often incorporating photographic images into his work, Boltanski has made biography and memory - both real and imagined - among his primary subjects, as much for their ability to question and conceal truth as to reveal it. Here, the grid of light bulbs surrounding the photograph of an unidentified girl suggests a glowing monument. But the small photograph is difficult to read - it is both out of focus and obscured by wires. With these simple materials, the artist has created a haunting work full of emotional intensity that is immersed in an aura of spirituality. Boltanski's presentation turns the image into a small icon lit by modern devotional lights, becoming a public memorial or altarpiece for mediation and reflection surrounding his universal themes.
ProvenanceThe artist; with Marian Goodman Gallery, New York; purchased by MFA, Boston, June 27, 2001
Copyright© 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
