ORIGINAL "MAIL ART" WORK IN TIN BISCUIT BOX UNIQUE 1969

ONE OF ONLY 30 SUCH BOXES DISTRIBUTED - MANY LOST - A VERY SIGNIFICANT EARLY WORK BY CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI Boltanski, Christian UNTITLED. UNIQUE WORK WITHIN A SERIES (BOITES DE BISCUIT SANS DATE CONTENTANT UNE BOULETTE DE TERRE ET UN PHOTO) c. 1969
Vintage metal (tin) biscuit box, 23 x 23 x 13cm containing a small ball of earth hand made by the artist and contained in a wire cage. The all was then wrapped in cotton wool and taped down along the sides (to protect the work perhaps?). Additionally the box also contains a small piece of black paper torn into a triangular shape (1 cm sides) on which is printed (in silver) "Août 1793". August 1793 was the beginning of Robespierre's terror policies during the French revolution and one presumes this appropriation of a found paper fragment with such a significant date is part of Boltanski's intent here. Additionally there is a 10 x 15cm, original silver gelatine photograph of the artist's well known mail art work: "CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI A 5 ANS ET 3 MOIS DE DISTANCE " which was added by Boltanski to complete the work (as with other boxes in this series which often found contain an unique photograph). There is a description of similar boxes in the Boltanski catalogue raisonne (nr 8) and it is estimated only 30 such artworks were given away or sent by Boltanski as mail art objects. Effectively, this is a unique work from the earliest period of Boltanski's mail art activity. The box is slightly aged with some minor rust specks (it is perhaps important to note that even in "new" works by Boltanski the boxes he chooses to use in major installations are all rusted and aged in appearance so this is probably not a condition issue), the photograph internally has some minor damp issues along its bottom from past storage where there is a blue water stain and the original packing (cotton wool) is still retained in situ along with the pieces of adhesive tape (ie sticking plaster used to cover up cuts and wounds) which has unavoidably lost some of its adhesive qualities but is still in situ. The cotton wool packing has remained in place just as Boltanski dispatched the box. The choice of sticking plasters as chosen materials elsewhere in the artist's canon suggests that the packing is an integral part of the box and should be retained. An unique rarity - many of the boxes given away were handed to recipients who did not realise they were artworks and it is reasonable to speculate that many were discarded or lost from an already tiny number of examples. The use of such boxed assemblages began Boltanski's interest in the storage of the items of the dead and these are the first examples of his use of tin boxes as symbols of the tomb or faux reliquaries.