{
"data": {
"id": 375548,
"accession_number": "2019.19.1.b",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Laments: Death came and he looked like... (Sarcophagus lid), 1987. Jenny Holzer (American, b.1950). Marble; 45.7 x 61 x 137.2 cm (18 x 24 x 54 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller, 2019.19.1.b. \u00a9 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York",
"current_location": "229A Contemporary",
"title": "Laments: Death came and he looked like... (Sarcophagus lid)",
"creation_date": "1987",
"creation_date_earliest": 1987,
"creation_date_latest": 1987,
"artists_tags": [
"female"
],
"culture": [
"America"
],
"technique": "marble",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Contemporary Art",
"collection": "CONTEMP - Sculpture",
"type": "Mixed Media",
"measurements": "45.7 x 61 x 137.2 cm (18 x 24 x 54 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"No Extent Specified": {
"height": 0.457,
"height_inch": 18,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.61,
"width_inch": 24,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"depth": 1.372,
"depth_inch": 54,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": "\u00a9 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York",
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Jenny Holzer: Laments 1988-1989. Dia Chelsea, New York (March 2, 1989-February 18, 1990)",
"opening_date": "1989-03-02T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Collection of the artist",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1987-?",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(Christie's, New York, NY, May 17, 2000, no. 192)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2000",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Cheim & Read, New York, NY, sold to Howard and Cindy Rachofsky, Dallas, TX",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "The Collection of Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, Dallas, TX, consigned to Art Agency Partners, New York, NY",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-2019",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "Art Agency Partners, New York, NY, 2019, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2019",
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2019-",
"sortorder": 7
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The same text is displayed in motion on the LED sign and static on the surface of the sarcophagus.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Laments: Death came and he looked like\u2026 belongs to one of Jenny Holzer\u2019s iconic sculpture series, the Laments. A response to the AIDS epidemic, the series is based on 13 texts written by Holzer that she describes as \u201cvoices of the dead.\u201d 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.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q84278566"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Auping, Michael, ed. Jenny Holzer (Universe Women Artists). New York: Universe, 1992.",
"page_number": "40-43, 52, 56, 64, 82, 93, 96, 103-104 and 106.",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Auping, Michael. Jenny Holzer: The Venice Installation. Exh. Cat. Buffalo, NY: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1991.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Breslin, David, ed. Jenny Holzer. Exh. Cat. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Ferguson, Bruce. \u201cWordsmith: an interview with Jenny Holzer.\u201d Art in America 74, no. 12 (December 1986).",
"page_number": "108",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Hughes, Gordon. \u201cPower\u2019s Script: Or, Jenny Holzer\u2019s Art after \u2018Art after Philosophy,\u2019\u201d Oxford Art Journal 29, no. 3 (2006).",
"page_number": "419-440",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Joselit, David, et al. Jenny Holzer. London: Phaidon, 2003.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": null,
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "After the Revolution: Women Who Transformed Contemporary Art. Munich, London, and New York: Prestel Verlag, 2007.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Siegel, Jeanne \u201cJenny Holzer\u2019s Language Games.\u201d Arts Magazine 60, no. 4 (December 1985).",
"page_number": "64-68",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Taylor, Paul. \u201cJenny Holzer: I wanted to do a portrait of society.\u201d Flash Art International 151 (March/April 1990).",
"page_number": "116-119",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Waldman, Diane, ed. Jenny Holzer. Exh. Cat. Guggenheim Museum Publications: New York, 1989.",
"page_number": "92-97",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Holzer, Jenny. Jenny Holzer: Laments. Exh. Cat. New York: Dia Art Foundation, 1989.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2019.19.1.b",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": "Toby's Gallery for Contemporary Art",
"athena_id": 375548,
"creators": [
{
"id": 497,
"description": "Jenny Holzer (American, b.1950)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1950",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 0
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2019-03-04T00:00:00-05:00",
"sortable_date": 1987,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1987",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "part",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": "2019.19",
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-01 06:54:06.241000"
}
}