Collection Online as of June 6, 2023

Laments: Death came and he looked like... (Sarcophagus)

1987

Part of a set. See all set records

Jenny Holzer

(American, 1950-)

America

Marble

45.7 x 61 x 137.2 cm (18 x 24 x 54 in.)

Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller 2019.19.1

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The same text is displayed in motion on the LED sign and static on the surface of the sarcophagus.

Description

Laments: Death came and he looked like… belongs to one of Jenny Holzer’s iconic sculpture series, the Laments. A response to the AIDS epidemic, the series is based on 13 texts written by Holzer, which she has described as “voices of the dead.” Each text was manifested in two forms: as colored light flowing between the ceiling and floor on LED signs, and as engravings carved into the tops of sarcophagi made of different stones. This work is one of those pairings.

Provenance

2019-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Auping, Michael, ed. Jenny Holzer (Universe Women Artists). New York: Universe, 1992. 40-43, 52, 56, 64, 82, 93, 96, 103-104 and 106.

Auping, Michael. Jenny Holzer: The Venice Installation. Exh. Cat. Buffalo, NY: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1991.

Breslin, David, ed. Jenny Holzer. Exh. Cat. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008.

Ferguson, Bruce. “Wordsmith: an interview with Jenny Holzer.” Art in America 74, no. 12 (December 1986). 108

Hughes, Gordon. “Power’s Script: Or, Jenny Holzer’s Art after ‘Art after Philosophy,’” Oxford Art Journal 29, no. 3 (2006). 419-440

Joselit, David, et al. Jenny Holzer. London: Phaidon, 2003.

After the Revolution: Women Who Transformed Contemporary Art. Munich, London, and New York: Prestel Verlag, 2007.

Siegel, Jeanne “Jenny Holzer’s Language Games.” Arts Magazine 60, no. 4 (December 1985). 64-68

Taylor, Paul. “Jenny Holzer: I wanted to do a portrait of society.” Flash Art International 151 (March/April 1990). 116-119

Waldman, Diane, ed. Jenny Holzer. Exh. Cat. Guggenheim Museum Publications: New York, 1989. 92-97

Holzer, Jenny. Jenny Holzer: Laments. Exh. Cat. New York: Dia Art Foundation, 1989.