Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski
First original maquette for: Les Modèles. Cinq relations entre texte et image., 1979
13454-BK

8 5/8 x 6 1/4 in. (22 x 16 cm)

Paris. (The artist). Sheets loose in a paper wrapper, with the title “première maquette” handwritten in blue pencil on front, and with
the artist’s pencil rendering of a buckle and strap closing mechanism.

Les Modèles was an artist's book/catalogue published by cheval d’attaque in 1979 on the occasion of Boltanski’s exhibition in the Maison de la Culture de Chalon-sur-Saone. In the published catalogue, five earlier book works by Boltanski were reprinted, with three having being published previously, whilst for the two other books, this was the first time they appeared in print.
The books reproduced in the catalogue were: Recherche et présentation de tout ce qui reste de mon enfance; Tout ce que je sais d'une femme qui est morte et que je n’ai pas connue; L’appartement de la rue de Vaugirard; 10 portraits photographiques de Christian Boltanski, 1946-1964; and Les Histoires.
Here is Boltanski’s first handmade maquette for Les Modèles consisting of 67 loose sheets, 22 x 16 cm format, and includes the handwritten titles and legends as well as all the original photographs that composed some of Boltanski's earliest artist books.

Collation as follows:

11 preliminary sheets, including handwritten half-title, title, and collaged publisher’s imprint;
Recherche et présentation de tout ce qui reste de mon enfance - handwritten title and 8 original silver print photographs (16.8 x 11 cm), cut and glue-mounted on sheets of Vidalon paper, each photograph framed in pen. ‘Recherche et présentation de tout ce qui reste de mon enfance’ was Boltanski’s first artist’s book, originally published in 1969 utilizing photocopies of the same photographs presented here in the maquette. The photographs include a class photo in which Boltanski features in the upper row, second from the left, a piece of his sweater, a shirt etc. In reality, several of these allegedly personal relics belonged mostly to his brothers and nephews;
Tout ce que je sais d'une femme qui est morte et que je n’ai pas connue - three preliminary leaves including handwritten title & 5 offset printed black-and-white photographic images pasted onto Vidalon sheets, handwritten numbering in pencil beneath. Originally self-published by Boltanski in 1970, these five images reproduce photos of an anonymous family (the photos had been given to Boltanski by the Colombian artist Luis Caballero, who had found them in his studio);
L’appartement de la rue de Vaugirard - preliminary leaf with handwritten title, blank leaf & 10 original silver print photographs (each 7 x 10 cm), cut and glue-mounted onto sheets of Vidalon paper, each sheet numbered in pencil. The photographs were taken from a film shot by Boltanski in an empty apartment on Rue de Vaugirard;
10 portraits photographiques de Christian Boltanski, 1946-1964 (originally published 1972) - two preliminary leaves, one with handwritten title, blank leaf & 9 original silver print photographs (each 14 x 9.8 cm), cut and glue-mounted onto sheets of Vidalon paper, each sheet numbered in pencil. With this series of photographs Boltanski in fact got strangers and friends’ children to pose, except for the last photo which is alleged to show the artist at the age of twenty, when he was in fact twenty-eight;
Les Histoires - two preliminary leaves, one with handwritten title, & 9 original silver print photographs (each 6.5 x 9 cm), cut and glue-mounted onto sheets of Vidalon paper. Each photograph framed in pen, and each sheet numbered in pencil. Here Boltanski utilizes a series of photographic images from a children’s story book, here presented devoid of the artist’s deadpan text captions which were to accompany each photograph in the final published version.
[Ref. Bob Calle - Christian Boltanski Artist’s Books 1969-2007, pp. 12, 16, 26/27, 30/31, 33 (original editions of the five books); p. 124 (reference for Les Modèles)].

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Christian Boltanski

Original maquette for: L'Appartement de la rue de Vaugirard. (Handwritten title on front wrapper: Ces genres élémentaires. Florilège. Livre de lecture et de divertissement par Christian Boltanski)., 1973
13453-BK

8 1/4 x 5 7/8 in. (21 x 15 cm)

Stitched into later grey suede-covered wrappers, boxed. With nine original silver print photographs, eight of which measure 8 x 12 cm, with the additional photograph pasted to front cover measuring 8.3 x 8.3 cm.

The unique handmade maquette by Christian Boltanski for his early artist’s book “L'Appartement de la rue de Vaugirard”. The maquette consists of 12 pages of thick Vidalon paper, on which are pasted nine hand-cut original silver print photographs by Boltanski. The first image, pasted onto the maquette’s front cover, is of a paper streamer and face mask, whilst the other eight photographs are stills from a film (16mm - black and white) which was shot in the artist's old flat in the rue de Vaugirard in May 1973. Boltanski has titled each photograph in pencil above, and the artist’s handwritten texts below describe a once magnificent life in these now empty rooms. The texts describe furniture and objects which are simply not there, thus evoking a conventional, comfortable life which is now lost. Interestingly Boltanski has clearly agonised over the texts accompanying the photographs, as is evident in the somewhat inadequate eradication of earlier pencil texts with a rubber eraser, and the subsequent rewriting of the lines of text.
The book of which this is the maquette was not actually published until 1991, and then only as part of the boxed set of "Livres" published by the Association française d’action artistique (AFAA).

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