Skip to content
Title:
Zyklon-B
Object name(s):
Print
Brief description:
Grey card with back cloth spine and fastened with a length of thisn black elastic tied in a knot. Lettering on the cover printed in black.
Collection:
Victoria and Albert Museum
Associated concept:
Prints
Content - event name:
Holocaust
Credit line:
Given by the artist
Current reproduction location:
https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GA3983/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg
Location type:
Thumbnail
Dimension:
Height
Dimension measurement unit:
cm
Dimension value:
76.5
Dimension:
Width
Dimension measurement unit:
cm
Dimension value:
56.5
Edition number:
4/15
Inscription content:
4/15
Inscription interpretation:
Edition number; inside back cover in pencil.
Inscription content:
Title, artist's name and production notes
Inscription interpretation:
Printed in black ink inside back cover
Object name:
Print
Object number:
E.454:1-8-2011
Object production date:
May 2011
Date - association:
printed
Date - earliest / single:
2011-05-01
Date - latest:
2011-05-31
Object production person:
Antonio Claudio Carvalho
Person's association:
artist
Object production place:
Liege
Place association:
printed
Place note:
Printed at L'Atelier Roel Goussay, Liege, Belgium
Physical description:
Grey card with back cloth spine and fastened with a length of thisn black elastic tied in a knot. Lettering on the cover printed in black.
Reproduction number:
2013GA3983
Responsible department/section:
PDP
Technique:
Grey card, black cloth, and elastic
Text reason:
Collections online record
Text:
ZYKLON-B, a suite of screenprints produced in 2011, was inspired by Carvalho's recent visit to the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and it addresses the events of the Holocaust in a sequence of prints based on amateur photographs he saw in the Museum. Re-scaled and printed many times their original size, the images are blurred, ambiguous, ominous and hard to read. Showing various acts of violence against Jews and buildings such as the SS HQ in Berlin, the images make up a disjointed but telling narrative. The portfolio is subtitled 'Let the sun see you crying' (adapted from the title of the song by British 60s band Gerry and the Pacemakers, 'Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying') and the prints are printed in black on bright yellow. The choice of yellow is itself ambiguous - yellow with its associations of sunshine can be positive and cheerful, but it is also symbolises disease and decay and is used as a warning sign for hazardous substances. The cover of the portfolio has been carefully considered: made of grey cardboard, with black binding and black stencilled lettering, it carries associations of packing cases, freight, concrete bunkers. It is held closed by a band of thin black elastic which is knotted in such a way as to suggest barbed wire.
Text reason:
Summary description

Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/bc006ecf-f6ad-332f-910e-172df28eb81a

Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC

Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/bc006ecf-f6ad-332f-910e-172df28eb81a, Victoria and Albert Museum, CC BY-NC

Is there a problem with this record? Give feedback.

Sign up to our newsletter

Follow the latest MDS developments every two months with our newsletter.

Unsubscribe any time. See our privacy notice.

Back to top