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The guillotine as anti-monument

Research imperatives and process: In the first article to explore the sculptural aesthetics of the guillotine, Taws argues that the guillotine mobilized and questioned certain aspects of the nature of sculpture that were conspicuously lacking in official discourse, at a time when the materiality of sculpture was placed under extraordinary pressure. Taking into account the monumental associations of the guillotine and its location opposite Lemot’s temporary sculpture of Liberty on the Place de la Révolution, and considering the relation of the guillotine to the (royal) body it dismembered, he makes the case that the guillotine be considered an antimonument, disturbing the codes that govern the meaning of the monument even as it participates in them.