Sans-Souci by Christian Boltanski - 1991

Sans-Souci is a haunting meditation on the bonds of history. Presented in the format of a 1930s family photo album with 56 b&w photos, 16pp. Weighs 350 g.

"During his stay in Berlin, the artist came across many photographs of member of the Wehrmacht with their fiancées, wives, and children. In the context of their everyday life, at home or on holiday, and removed from the trappings of propaganda, these soldiers seem like ordinary men. Everyone carries in himself the potential for both good and evil: a model husband and father can, in one day, embrace his child, and massacre an "enemy" family. Watching television in America at the end of the Gulf war, Christian Boltanski was struck by the images of the troops coming home: These men who, by the force of circumstance, had killed, seemed so kind and almost childlike." from Christian Boltanski : Catalogue, Books, Printed Matter, Ephemera 1966-1991

This book, presented in the format of a 1940s family photo album is a haunting meditation on the bonds of history.

Published on the occasion of the artist's exhibition Christian Boltanski, Portikus, Frankfurt am Main in 1991.

references:

Bury, Stephen 1995, Artists' Books The Book as a Work of Art. 1963-1995, Scolar Press, Aldershot. p. 174.

Calle, Bob 2008, "Christian Boltanski : Artist's Books 1969 - 2007", Éditions 591, Paris. pp. 68 - 69.

Flay, Jennifer (ed) 1992, Christian Boltanski : Catalogue, Books, Printed Matter, Ephemera 1966-1991, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, Portikus, Frankfurt am Main. pp. 202-203, no. 77.

Moeglin-Delcroix, Anne 1997, Esthétique du Livre d'Artiste 1960 / 1980, Jean-Michel Place / Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. pp. 198.

Wey, Deborah and Weitman, Wendy 2006, Eye on Europe : prints, books, and multiples / 1960 to now, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. p. 98.