LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Animals & Insects, Motherhood & Family

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with red ink additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Hahnemühle paper

Dimensions:

plate: 11 7/8 x 9 15/16" (30.2 x 25.3 cm); sheet: 14 1/2 x 11 1/2" (36.9 x 29.2 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right margin, red ink.

Inscription:

"AP" lower left margin, red ink, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of state II

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition at any state.

The "AP" inscription, in the artist's hand, does not indicate a conventional A.P. impression, which would be of the published state.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, in drypoint: 3 ovals added to lower left composition; eyes, nostrils, legs, and feet added.
Additions in red ink: eyebrows and lips reinforced, hairs added to topmost limb on right side of insect's body, lines on abdomen extended, legs reinforced, all anticipating state III.

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 of Erasmus Books and Prints, the shop she opened for a brief period in the late 1950s.

Curatorial Remarks:

Without being able to examine it in person, it appears that the study is a color photocopy of state III of III, variant. Bourgeois made the photocopy in 2003, several years after she discontinued work on the "Dancing Insect" prints.

Other Remarks:

According to Bourgeois's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, the three eggs in the lower left composition refer to Louise's three children and the insect is a self portrait of the artist.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

34.2012

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY