Christopher Williams (b. 1956)

Angola to Vietnam

Details

Christopher Williams (b. 1956)
Angola to Vietnam
each signed and numbered '4/5' on the reverse
complete portfolio--twenty-seven gelatin silver prints on Agfa Insignia
each: 14 x 11in. (35.5 x 28cm.)
Executed in 1989. This work is number four from an edition of five with three artist's proofs.

Provenance

Galerie Crousel-Robelin, Bama, Paris
Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne

Literature

C. Williams, Angola to Vietnam, Gent 1989, pls. 1-27 (illustrated)
T. Martin, 'Undressing the Institutional Wound', Christopher Williams--For Example: Die Welt is Schön (Final Draft), Rotterdam 1997, pp. 38-39

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Crousel-Robelin, Bama Christopher Williams, 1989 (another set exhibited)
Tokyo, Person's Weekend Museum, Christopher Williams, April-June 1993, p. 45 (Lebanon illustrated p. 4, another set exhibited)

Lot Essay

Angola to Vietnam is a portfolio of twenty-seven black and white photographs of glass botanical models shot in reference to Karl Blossfeldt's style. For Angola to Vietnam, Christopher Williams accessed the label files of the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models housed in the Botanical Museum of Harvard University, and subjected the eight hundred and forty-seven entries he found to a rigid selection process or 'filter', as he calls it. He reordered the exisiting taxonomic classification of the collection to classification by country of origin, and selected the twenty-seven specimens that coincided with an Amnesty International list of countries practicing the terror tactic of 'disapperance':

1. Angola, 1989
Blaschka Model 439, 1894
Family, Sterculiaceae
Cola acuminata

2. Argentina, 1989
Blaschka Model 289, 1892
Family, Solanaceae
Nierembergia gracilis
Nierembergia calycina

3. Bolivia, 1989
Blaschka Model 268, 1892
Family, Begoniaceae
Begonia boliviensis

4. Brazil, 1989
Blaschka Model 104, 1889
Family, Leguminosae
Erythrina Crista-galli

5. Central African Republic, 1989
Blaschka Model 783, 1923
Family, Ochnaceae
Ochna multiflora

6. Chile, 1989
Blaschka Model 180, 1890
Family, Scrophulariaceae
Calceolaria scabiosaefolia

7. Colombia 1989
Blaschka Model 158, 1890
Family, Cucurbitaceae
Cyclanthera pedata

8. Dominican Republic, 1989
Blaschka Model 601, 1896
Family, Euphorbiaceae
Hura crepitans

9. El Salvador, 1989
Blaschka Model 639, 1898
Family, Verbenaceae
Petrea volubilis

10. Ethiopia, 1989
Blaschka Model 478, 1894
Family, Rubiaceae
Coffea arabica

11. Guatemala, 1989
Blaschka Model 227, 1891
Family, Orchidaceae
Lycaste Skinneri

12. Haiti, 1989
Blaschka Model 601, 1896
Family, Euphorbiaceae
Hura crepitans

13. Honduras, 1989
Blaschka Model 469, 1894
Family, Meliaceae
Cedrela odorata

14. Indonesia, 1989
Blaschka Model 693, 1903
Family, Musaceae
Musa paradisiaca
subsp. sapientum

15. Lebanon, 1989
Blaschka Model 770, 1906
Family, Moraceae
Ficus Carica

16. Mexico, 1989
Blaschka Model 160, 1890
Family, Compositae
Dahlia pinnata
Dahlia variabilis

17. Namibia, 1989
Blaschka Model 95, 1889
Family, Crassulaceae
Cotyledon orbiculata

18. Nicaragua, 1989
Blaschka Model 424, 1894
Family, Anacardiaceae
Anacardium occidentale

19. Paragua, 1989
Blaschka Model 494, 1894
Family, Palmae
Arecastrum RomanzoffianumR var. australe
cocos australis

20. Peru, 1989
Blaschka Model 180, 1890
Family, Scrophulariaceae
Calceolaria scabiosaefolia

21. Philippines, 1989
Blaschka Model 387, 1893
Family, Malvaceae
Gossypium herbaceum
Gossypium Nanking

22. South Africa, 1989
Blaschka Model 95, 1889
Family, Crassulaceae
Cotyledon orbiculata

23. Sri Lanka, 1989
Blaschka Model 694, 1903
Family, Musaceae
Musa rosacea

24. Togo, 1989
Blaschka Model 439, 1894
Family, Sterculiaceae
Cola acuminata

25. Uganda, 1989
Blascha Model 482, 1894
Family, Leguminosae
Cajanus Cajan
Cajanus indicus

26. Uruguay, 1989
Blaschka Model 175, 1890
Family, Solanaceae
Browallia viscosa

27. Vietnam, 1989
Blaschka Model 272, 1892
Family, Cucurbitaceae
Luffa cylindrica

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