Louise Bourgeois. Le Père (1998)

Select a search filter from the categories below.

Years		Themes		Techniques		Featured Printers & Publishers
1930s–1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s		Abstraction Animals & Insects Architecture Body Parts Fabric Works Faces & Portraits Figures Motherhood & Family Music Nature Objects Spiders Spirals Words		Aquatint Digital Drypoint Engraving Etching Lithography Photogravure Relief Screenprint Other Techniques		Atelier 17 Carolina Nitsch Editions Dyenamix Harlan & Weaver Lison Editions Louise Bourgeois Osiris Peter Blum Edition Procuniar Workshop SOLO Impression Wingate Studio

Previous Next Showing 1664 of 5410

Previous Next

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION

Cat. No. 518.1/I

Le Père

State/Variant:: Version 1 of 2, state I of II (embossing matrix)
Date:: 1998

Descriptive Title:: English translation: "The Father"
Themes:: Motherhood & Family, Objects
Techniques:: Other
Description:: Embossing, with brown pastel additions
Support:: Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:: composition: 19 x 9 3/8" (48.2 x 23.8 cm); sheet: 23 x 10 1/4" (58.4 x 26 cm)
Signature:: "LB" right lower sheet, pencil.
Publisher:: unpublished
Printer:: SOLO Impression, New York
Edition:: 2 known impressions of version 1, state I
Impression:: Not numbered
Edition Information:: Proof before the editioning of version 2, only state.

Matrices:
The progression of version 1, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved 2 matrices in 2 different techniques.

Embossing matrix: outline of large chair and semicircle forms.

Lithography matrix: large chair and 3 small chairs.
State Changes and Additions:: Embossing matrix printed alone.
Background:: The edition of version 2, only state, was published as a benefit for Anthology Film Archives, New York.

The Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema. It hosts a reference library containing the world's largest collection of books, periodicals, stills, and other paper materials related to avant-garde cinema, as well as a remarkably innovative and eclectic film exhibition program. During her lifetime, Bourgeois served on the Board of Advisors with Nam June Paik, RoseLee Goldberg, and others involved in the world of cinema.

Bourgeois was married to American art historian, Robert Goldwater. The couple had three sons: Michel, Jean-Louis, and Alain.
Curatorial Remarks:: Bourgeois depicted version 1 of this composition in a single color, requiring only one lithographic matrix. In version 2, the artist printed the composition in 2 different shades of blue by introducing an additional lithographic matrix. In both versions 1 and 2, Bourgeois used an embossing matrix to emboss the outline of the large chair and the semicircle forms. The embossing was achieved through letterpress.
Other Remarks:: According to the artist's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, the imagery of chairs may have been influenced by Bourgeois's father and his chair collection. The embossed semicircle forms seen in "Le Père et les 3 Fils" may be in reference to the areas of raised, tufted fabric on the tapestry upholstered chairs in her father's collection. The chair motif appears in Bourgeois's prints, drawings, and sculptures. The artist also included chairs, among other found objects, in various large-scale installations (see Related Works in the Catalogue below).