Louise Bourgeois. Self Portrait. 1990

Louise Bourgeois Self Portrait 1990

  • Not on view

Here Bourgeois creates a family emblem with profiles of mother and father, and child at the center. The 1940 painting was an homage to her newborn son, and she described the representation as "a closed eternal circle." She revived the composition in 1990, as she often did with older images that continued to resonate with her. The occasion was the birth of a friend's child and, after experimentation, she settled on the serene blue version.

Gallery label from Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait, Sept. 24, 2017-Jan. 28, 2018.
State/variant
Version 1 of 2, state VI of VI
Medium
Drypoint, etching, and aquatint
Dimensions
plate: 15 7/8 x 10 7/8" (40.3 x 27.6 cm); sheet: 27 3/16 x 19 1/2" (69 x 49.5 cm)
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Harlan & Weaver, New York
Edition
3 known impressions of version 1, state VI, outside the edition
Impresssion
Not numbered
Credit
Gift of the artist
Object number
590.1993
Copyright
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY
Department
Drawings and Prints

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