The Most Beautiful Jewel in the World A text by Shinobu Sakagami on James Lee Byars

Throughout his life, American artist James Lee Byars (1932–97) traveled the world. His extended stays in Europe, Asia, and the United States profoundly influenced his art, where Baroque and Zen aesthetics, theatricality and meditation meet. In February 1997, knowing he would soon die, Byars left for Cairo, where he stayed at a hotel and spent his days contemplating the pyramids, visiting the necropolis, and preparing his own death—he wished to be mummified like the Ancient Egypt pharaohs. Japanese art historian Shinobu Sakagami investigated with the people who were close to him during those three months spent in Cairo. She retraced the circumstances in which Byars developed his final work there, The Most Beautiful Jewel in the World (1997), intended to be presented that same year at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in the group exhibition Amours. This ultimate work is a gold sphere the size of a human heart. Completing a life entirely devoted to the concepts of beauty and perfection, this “most beautiful jewel in the world” alone symbolizes the artistic and spiritual quest of James Lee Byars.