LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Animals & Insects, Motherhood & Family

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 11 7/8 x 9 15/16" (30.2 x 25.3 cm); sheet: 14 x 10 7/8" (35.5 x 27.7 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Inscription:

"giving birth" lower middle margin, pencil, artist's hand

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

2 known impressions of state II

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state V.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, in drypoint: cross-hatching on antennae and upper body outlines.
Additions in pencil: hanging sack containing baby, hair-like lines radiating from head, ears, and breasts delineated, all anticipating state III. Nipples delineated, anticipating state IV.

Background:

According to the artist’s assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, Bourgeois began this composition by tracing an illustration from a book in her collection. The book had once been part of the inventory for Erasmus Books and Prints, the shop she opened for a brief period in the late 1950s.

Curatorial Remarks:

Publisher Harlan & Weaver groups the editioned state of this composition with ten other drypoints of 1999, under the title, “11 Drypoints.” Each of the 11 compositions can be displayed individually. The full set is as follows:
“The Accident”
“The Angry Cat”
“Don’t Put Your Foot in Your Mouth”
“Fear”
“Feet (Socks)”
“Fences Are Obsolete”
“Madeleine”
“Mosquito”
“Mother and Child”
“Please Hang in There”
“The Smell of the Feet”

Bibliography:

Malbert, Roger, and Juliet Mitchell. "Louise Bourgeois: Autobiographical Prints." London: Hayward, 2016. (Catalogue accompanying the touring exhibition "Louise Bourgeois Prints: Autobiographical Series and 11 Drypoints".)

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

914.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY