Annette Messager - Unoriginal Sins

07 Aug A PROJECT FOR CHORUS. 1974. PUBLISHED IN CHORUS NO. 11/12. NOT IN CATALOGUE RAISONNE.

Posted at 20:52h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Paris: Chorus, n.d. (1974)
24 X 18cm, 128pp plus pictorial covers. A single number of the art journal which alongside Boltanski are original contributions and articles on Annette Messager, Jacques Donguy, Jacques Monory and others.
Notable here are six pages by Boltanski which repeats his project displaying the supposed belongings of an anonymous person - here supposedly some living in Oxford, UK where the first exhibition of such an accumulation took place in 1973. VG+. Scarce publication.
Following Boltanski's contribution is a poem by Pierre Tilman entitled "Boltanski est" and after that Annette Messager has an original contrbution called "Quelque attitudes de femme extraites de quelques albums - collections par Annette Messager collectionneuse." which displays various found image of crying and fearful women, kissing couples, some cosmetic processes and cooking. There is a second prose poem by Tulman in his facsimile hand entitled "Annette, Christian, Jacques" as frontispiece which has a painting which shows Messager and a young somewhat handsome Boltanski. hugging.

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19 May QUELQUES SOUVENIRS DE LA PREMIERE COMMUNION D’UNE FILLETTE RECUEILLIS ET DECRITS PAR CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI. 1974. ONE OF 25 COPIES SIGNED & MARKED H.C.

Posted at 20:02h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Paris: Editions Georges Fall, 1974
22 x 16cm, 16pp (self cover). Artist's book which show objects from Annette Messager's first communion along with three photographs of a young girl (not Messager) preparing for the ceremony. The images are "representational" of the various objects and not the actual items used in Boltanski's partner's life. Each has an objective description below as if in a historical journal. Staples are a bit rusty else VG+. Scarce.

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02 Jun CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI JEAN LE GAC ANNETTE MESSAGER. 1973.

Posted at 14:55h in EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

DIjon: Musee Rude, 1973
30 x 21cm, 76pp plus card covers. Exhibition catalogue that should be regarded as a joint artist's book - with original contributions by Boltanski, Le Gac and Annette Messager.
Boltanski's part is "5 BROUILLONS DE CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI MARS - MAI 1973" - five hand-written texts in facsimile of the artist's handwriting which discuss various projects undertaken in the past year.
Le Gac has "L'ENQUETE" - a quasi thriller short story with one b/w image. Messager has "SUR LES TRAVAUX DE L'ATELIER" - again texts in reproduction of her originals although typed. ` VG+ condition. Scarce.

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10 Aug 10 PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHIQUES DE CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI 1946 – 1964. 1972.

Posted at 18:38h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Paris: Edition Multiplicata, 1972
21 x 13.5cm, 20pp plus card wrappers. First edition of this artist's book that supposedly shows ten different portraits of the younger Boltanski from the age of 3 to age 20. All but the last of the children photographed are not Boltanski but friends and relatives (Christophe Boltanski the artist's nephew is one of the models) and were all taken by Annette Messager on a single day inJuly 1972. The last image is of Boltanski supposedly at 20 years of age but when the photograph was taken he was 28. Yet another example of the fictionalism of the artist's work - history is erroneous and cannot be trusted. Nor can artists although on the back page the date of the photography is revealed so at least the deception was only temporary for the careful reader. VG+ condition.
Referenced in Flay Christian Boltanski Catalogue 1992, Page 74.

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07 Jul L’ALBUM PHOTOGRAPHIQUE DE CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI. 19548 – 1956. 1972.

Posted at 21:05h in ARTIST’S BOOKS

Hamburg/Paris: Grossman Verlag/Edition Sonnabend, 1972
20.8 x 14.6cm, 32pp plus card covers. Thirty-two b/w images of the adult artist recreating his early life as a young child with descriptions which ignore the fact that Boltanski is not a child. The photographs were all taken by Annette Messager. This is one of 500 copies published. The cover has a couple of brown marks (possible foxing) else VG+.
JOINT:
Two 19 x 12.5cm, 1pp b/w inserts with English and French translations of the legends.

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30 Aug HANDWRITTEN COMMERCIAL POSTCARD SENT TO M. BERG. 1970. SIGNED BY BOTH BOLTANSKI & ANNETTE MESSAGER.

Posted at 19:49h in EPHEMERA

Berlin: n.p., 1970.
10.3 x 15cm, 2pp commercial postcard with an image of the Berlin Kongresshalle and on the reverse greetings and best wishes from both Boltanski and his partner Annette Messager. VG+.

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