Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait

10 / 21

Louise Bourgeois. Montée Difficile (Slow Climb). 1946-1947

Montée Difficile (Slow Climb), 1946-47. Engraving and drypoint. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist. © 2017 The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY. 148.1990

Curator, Deborah Wye: Printmaking was something that Bourgeois could do at home, because she had bought herself a very small printing press that she kept in her apartment. She could take a little copper plate and she could put that copper plate on the edge of a table and work on it as she still kept an eye on her children playing. Some printmaking techniques require acid, and that can be dangerous. So she diluted the acid in her pan to almost being the level of vinegar, just in case the children happened to put their hand in the pan.