Monuments (La Fête du Pourim)

ExpandFavorite

Images(6)

Artist Christian Boltanski (French, 1944–2021)French, 1944–2021

CultureFrench

Titles

Monuments (La Fête du Pourim)

Date1989

PlaceFrance

MediumGelatin silver prints with metal biscuit boxes, and light fixtures with bulbs

DimensionsDimensions variable
Each image/sheet: 15 3/4 × 11 7/8 in. (40 × 30.2 cm)
Each biscuit box: 2 3/8 × 9 1/8 × 8 1/2 in. (6 × 23.2 × 21.6 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment

Object number89.284

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Object Type

DescriptionMemorializing the destruction of life and culture in the Holocaust,
Christian Boltanski creates sculptures that have the aura of religious shrines.
Here, the faces of Jewish children dressed for Purim—a holiday celebrating
salvation from intended slaughter—have been copied from a 1939 photograph,
enlarged to life size, and blurred, as if the details of individual identity
are slowly receding into memory. Paired with simple cookie tins of a sort that
might hold childhood treasures or family photographs and surrounded by electric
lights reminiscent of Yahrzeit (memorial) candles, each becomes a moving
embodiment of lost possibility.
Provenance[Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris]; purchased by MFAH, 1989.
Exhibition History"Past/Present: Photography from the Permanent Collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 8, 1991–February 8, 1991.

"Christian Boltanski," Centro Cultural/ Arte Contemporaneo, Ploanco, Mexico, October 26, 1992–January 17, 1993.

"Contemporary Art and Photography: Spotlight on the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 30, 2001–February 3, 2002.

"The Passionate Adventure of the Real: Collage, Assemblage, and the Object in 20th Century Art," Museum of Fine Arts Houston, October 18, 2002–February 8, 2003.

"Perspectives @25," Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, October 8, 2004–January 9, 2005.

"Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made after 1960 from the MFAH Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 21–May 9, 2010.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.