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plate: 11 7/8 x 9 13/16" (30.1 x 25 cm); sheet: 18 1/8 x 11" (46 x 28 cm)
Signature:
"LB" lower right margin, red ink.
Inscription:
Verso: "Dedicated to Jean Louis for. / the Daily [sic] Lama / New York August 1999 / Central Park," center sheet, pencil, artist's hand; "What is missing? music paper." lower center sheet, red ink, artist's hand; "What [underlined] do you mean? that we love / you" lower center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
Matrices: The progression of version 2, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved 3 plates. Plate 1: contours of composition and shading of capital W’s, in drypoint; printed in red or black. Plate 2: shading of house borders and segments of smoke, in aquatint; printed in red or black. Plate 3: smoke spiral, reconfigured text, and contours of capital W’s in soft ground etching; printed in red or black.
State Changes: Plate 1 printed in black. Changes from version 1: composition reconfigured with text in boxes within a house shape, in drypoint.
Background:
In August of 1999, the Dalai Lama spoke at several well-attended events in New York City. Bourgeois's son, Jean-Louis, requested that his mother execute a benefit print to raise money for the Dalai Lama’s cause about a month prior to the speaking engagements. Although Bourgeois created this composition, the benefit project did not come to fruition and this print was never published.
Curatorial Remarks:
A variant impression of version 2, state IV was sold at Phillips, New York, “Editions” auction on November 23, 2008, as lot 90. The description lists a "numbered edition of 25 and 7 artist's proofs, published by Harlan & Weaver, New York." According to Felix Harlan of Harlan & Weaver, this composition was never published.
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