LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Fabric Works, Figures, Motherhood & Family, Objects

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with selective wiping

Support:

Fabric

Dimensions:

plate: 11 15/16 x 9 15/16" (30.3 x 25.3 cm); sheet: 14 9/16 x 12 15/16" (37 x 32.9 cm)

Signature:

"LB" right lower margin, stitched in red thread.

Publisher:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

10 on fabric; plus an edition of 25 on paper with 7 A.P., 5 P.P., 3 H.C., 1 B.A.T., 1 T.P.

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

There is 1 known variant impression of state VII, outside the two editions.

In the edition of 10 on fabric, 9 are printed in black and 1 is printed in red. There are also minor variations in fabric texture and condition, as well as in margin size.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state VI in drypoint: woman and child's facial features further delineated; child's legs reshaped.

Background:

The imagery of this print relates to Bourgeois’s monumental sculptural installation for the inaugural exhibition in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2000. The installation consisted of “Maman,” a 30’ steel sculpture of a spider, and “I Do, I Undo, I Redo,” three steel towers ranging in height from 42' to 57'. Each tower contained a different sculpture of a mother and child inside a bell jar. The “Do Not Abandon Me” drypoint relates to the sculpture contained in the tower titled, “I Redo,” seen below in Related Works in Other Mediums.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist and Harlan & Weaver, Inc.

MoMA Accession Number:

1453.2001

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY