Inflammatory Essays

Date1979-82

Maker Jenny Holzer American, born 1950

Label TextJenny Holzer's "Inflammatory Essays," which number twenty-six in all, were inspired by several authors Holzer had read: Emma Goldman, Hitler, Lenin, Mao, and Trotsky. As in her previous works that use words as their medium, Holzer created these essays to be hung throughout the city streets, confronting people in the public sphere. In 1984, SAM's Contemporary Art Council sponsored the installation of the posters along a construction wall at Second Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle. Holzer's texts adopt different tones and alternate between first- and third-person voices. The essays all have an anti-power message, whether stated directly or suggested through the ironic use of a tyrannical voice.

Object number2012.9.1

ProvenancePurchased by Seattle Art Museum (Contemporary Art Council), May 1984 (upgraded from study collection to Category I, March 2012)

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Art of Protest, Apr. 27, 2000-Jan. 21, 2001 Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Elles: SAM - Singular Works by Seminal Women Artists, Oct. 6, 2012-Feb.17, 2013

Credit LineGift of the Contemporary Art Council of the Seattle Art Museum

Dimensions17 x 16 3/4 in. (43.2 x 42.6 cm), image and sheet size

MediumOffset posters on paper