Preparatory drawing for Monuments (Installation Salle Petriere)

Born to a Corsican mother and Jewish father of Ukrainian heritage at the end of Germany’s hold over Paris in World War II, Christian Boltanski is a self-taught multi-media artist who works with found objects including old photographs, clothing, and phonebooks. Using these found objects, he creates dramatic installations that explore cultural and personal histories as well as the inconsistency of memory. This work is the artist’s preparatory drawing for the 1986 Monuments (Installation Salle Petriere), a major installation by Boltanski in the Minneapolis Institute of Art's collection. In addition to documenting the details of the work’s multiple components, it serves as a certificate of authenticity for this unique work.