LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Body Parts, Faces & Portraits

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 10 7/8 x 7 7/8" (27.7 x 20 cm); sheet: 15 3/4 x 11 7/8" (40 x 30.2 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known variant impression of state III, outside the editions on paper and fabric

Impression:

Not numbered

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state II in drypoint: star shape burnished.

Artist’s Remarks:

Inscribed on the verso of the source drawing: "The thrill of Victory and the agony of the feet or smell of the feet or the love of the feet / the love, or the smell of the feet gives them a high."

Curatorial Remarks:

Publisher Harlan & Weaver groups the editioned state of this composition on paper 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”

Other Remarks:

According to Bourgeois’s assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, this imagery relates to Marcel Proust and his references to memory, with the star in the head suggesting recall and imagination. Gorovoy also noted that as a child, Bourgeois helped her father put on his slippers and the smell of feet brought back those memories.

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:

943.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY