Jenny Holzer (1950).

Inflammatory Essays, 1977 - 1982

One of the 29 offset litographs in various colors on medium-rough paper, printed in Millner Bros (Nueva York) and published by the American artist in an unknown edition.

43,2  x 43,2 cm. aprox.

Ocher color. Perfectly framed in wood and high quality thick plexiglax (50 x 50 cm.). The lithograph is in very good condition, with a somewhat discolored upper strip of the paper and small holes in some of its corners. Glue signs on the back. Most likely used on the streets of New York in the 70´s - 80's.

See photographs of the unframed sheet, with its defects and virtues. Some images do not correctly show the ocher color of the paper. Apologies.

Acquired at the Gallery Wenicke in Stuttgart in the early 90's. Family collection.

Various literature: Carter Ratcliffe, 'Jenny Holzer', Print Collector's Newsletter, XIII, noviembre-diciembre de 1982, págs. 149-52; Allan Schwartzman, "Bugs in the System", Print Collector's Newsletter, XV, March-April de 1984, págs. 10-11; Jeanne Siegel, "Jenny Holzer's Language Games", Arts Magazine, LX, diciembre, págs. 64 a 85.

Part of the 'Inflammatory Essays' was published for the first time in the form of a book in 1979. The most beautiful book in the form of cards with different colors as the printing press could provide.

  The texts are provocative (aggressive and defiant) and varied in subject matter, clearly precedents of his famous and incisive "Truisms".

Paragraphs that "show a spectrum of views, from the extreme left to the extreme right. I wanted to talk about things that are very important to people but in an undidactic way, showing how dangerous and absurd it is to be a fanatic."

To this end, the posters were first posted on the streets of Manhattan. But the choice of text was not always arbitrary. “Sometimes I would choose certain texts for certain neighborhoods. "It was fun to put some particularly scary ones uptown." Each week, Holzer posted a different poster. And to make it clear that a new poster was being displayed, he had them printed on different colored paper.

[Part of the text taken from The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalog of Acquisitions, London 1986].