LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Fabric Works, Faces & Portraits

Techniques:

Lithography

Description:

Lithograph

Support:

Fabric

Dimensions:

composition: 23 7/16 x 17 5/16" (59.5 x 44 cm); sheet: 32 3/8 x 26 1/16" (82.2 x 66.2 cm)

Signature:

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

Publisher:

SOLO Impression, New York

Printer:

SOLO Impression, New York

Edition:

6 on fabric (including 1 on a slip); plus an edition of 50 on paper with 8 A.P., 4 P.P., 4 T.P., 1 B.A.T.

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

There are 5 known variant impressions of version 2, outside the two editions.

There are variations in the fabrics used in this edition, as is commonly found in the old fabrics Bourgeois chose to use as printing surfaces. The example reproduced here has slight staining. Additionally, dimensions throughout the edition vary slightly because of hemming and stretching fluctuations. One of the six impressions in the fabric edition is printed on a slip Bourgeois owned, seen below in the Evolving Composition Diagram.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from version 1: composition executed in lithography; image enlarged.

Background:

The edition of version 2, in lithography on paper, was published as a benefit for Exit Art, New York.

Exit Art, 1982-2012, was an alternative exhibition space known for bringing exposure to emerging artists dealing with sociopolitically challenging work. When Exit Art approached Bourgeois for a contribution to one of their annual Benefit Print Portfolios, Bourgeois chose to create an enlarged lithograph version of the "The Guilty Girl" drypoint composition. According to Bourgeois's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, Bourgeois may have made the second version because lithography could have been more conducive to printing the multiple colors with which Bourgeois experimented in variants of the drypoint version. Bourgeois may have enlarged the image, as well, due to Exit Art's 30 x 22" standard sheet size for the portfolio.

The portfolio is titled "twoandthreezeros" and it includes 8 prints in an edition of 50 with artists Patty Chang, Peter Hildebrand, Sol LeWitt, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Yigal Ozeri, Shahzia Sikander, and Bourgeois, plus a cover printed by Exit Art co-founder, Papo Colo.

Artist’s Remarks:

"The triangular figure rests on a single point and can easily fall down. Her guilt has nothing to do with religion. There is guilt in not living up to one's highest potential. There is guilt from not being able to make yourself understood. There is guilt in not being a good mother. And there is guilt in not being able to make yourself loved." Bourgeois interviewed by Simona Vendrame. "Tema Celeste" 85 (2001): 49.

Curatorial Remarks:

The fabric has a small letter "F" stitched in white and red thread in the left upper margin. The printer and publisher, SOLO Impression, New York, assigned the letters A through F to internally identify the 6 impressions within the fabric edition.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

27.2002

This Work in Other Collections:

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY