L'ALBUM PHOTOGRAPHIQUE DE CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI 1948-1956

Paris, France: Self-Published/Editions Lebeer Hossmann, 1998. First Edition. First Printing.. Softcover. Fine/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. Paris, France: Self-Published/Editions Lebeer Hossmann, 1998. Softcover. Fine/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 32 pages. Artist Book. Vintage childhood photographs of Christian Boltanski, re-photographed by Annette Messager. Limited Edition of 1500 copies. Published as a softcover original only. As such, it is the more accessible New Edition of the (rare) 1972 original edition published by Editions Lebeer Hossmann. The First Edition Thus is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Christian Boltanski: Regular-sized volume format. White softcovers with black titles on the cover, as issued. Art by Christian Boltanski. Under his direction, the photographs were taken by his artist/wife, Annette Messager. Captions by Christian Boltanski in the French original and felicitous English and German translations. Printed on pristine-white, uncoated archival stock paper in Paris to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. Without DJ, as issued. Presents "L'Album Photographique de Christian Boltanski 1948-1965". Vintage photographs of the artist's childhood pictures, re-taken by Annette Messager, with the adult Boltanski (instead of his childhood self) appearing in every single one of them. It's a simple yet arresting concept that evokes his childhood as something that the adult Boltanski does not so much reminisce about as suggest will always be an essential part of his life and art. The effect of the whole sequence is overwhelming in its beauty and power because for Boltanski, the end of childhood is his - and our - very first "death experience". All that we have are our memories of it, usually preserved in photographs like these. Since his death on July 14, 2021, tributes to Christian Boltanski focussed exclusively on his site-specific installations, completely ignoring his two other incomparable achievements: First, the series of short films that he filmed, in each of which an "accident" takes place, and he dies. Boltanski stored the films in vintage biscuit tin cans, which he salvaged, accumulating endless rows of them, a "throwaway", quotidian artifact that he single-handedly elevated to an art object - therefore as something sacred - and now feverishly coveted as such by collectors. Second, Boltanski's large body of work in the Artist Book genre will remain unsurpassed, perhaps matched only by Ed Ruscha's, sort of, and in a totally different vein. Now that he is dead, the grief one feels for the vanished Life is somehow mitigated by the timeless beauty of the Art. An absolute "must-have" title for Christian Boltanski collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Edition of 1500 copies, indicated as such on the Back Limitation Page. It is very boldly and beautifully signed in black pen-marker on the Inside Front Cover by Christian Boltanski. It is signed directly on the cover itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is one of Boltanski's greatest Artist Books. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the Limited Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: This is the more accessible New Edition of the rare 1972 original edition published by Editions Lebeer Hossmann. A rare signed copy thus. 32 black-and-white plates. One of the greatest artists of the 20th century and our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 2872840168.