Louise Bourgeois. Embracing the Tree (2000)

Select a search filter from the categories below.

Years		Themes		Techniques		Featured Printers & Publishers
1930s–1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s		Abstraction Animals & Insects Architecture Body Parts Fabric Works Faces & Portraits Figures Motherhood & Family Music Nature Objects Spiders Spirals Words		Aquatint Digital Drypoint Engraving Etching Lithography Photogravure Relief Screenprint Other Techniques		Atelier 17 Carolina Nitsch Editions Dyenamix Harlan & Weaver Lison Editions Louise Bourgeois Osiris Peter Blum Edition Procuniar Workshop SOLO Impression Wingate Studio

Previous Next Showing 2155 of 5410

Previous Next

Louise Bourgeois. Embracing the Tree. 2000

IMAGE PERMISSIONS

Cat. No. 278/I

Embracing the Tree

State/Variant:: State I of II
Date:: 2000

Themes:: Figures, Nature
Techniques:: Drypoint
Description:: Drypoint, with blue watercolor, white correction fluid, and pencil additions
Support:: Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:: plate: 11 15/16 x 9 15/16" (30.3 x 25.3 cm); sheet: 15 1/2 x 11 1/8" (39.4 x 28.3 cm)
Signature:: Not signed
Publisher:: unpublished
Printer:: Harlan & Weaver, New York
Edition:: 1 known impression of state I
Impression:: Not numbered
Edition Information:: Proof before the editioning of state II.
State Changes and Additions:: Additions in blue watercolor and pencil: tree branches extended, hair extended, and reinforced overall, anticipating state II.
Additions in blue watercolor: shoes filled, anticipating state II; ground filled.
Additions in correction fluid: shape of left shoe altered, anticipating state II.
Additions in pencil and correction fluid: hands further articulated, anticipating state II.
Background:: According to Bourgeois’s assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, the subject of this composition came from a ritual instigated by the artist’s friend, Paulo Herkenhoff, a Brazilian curator and critic, in the late 1990s. In celebration of Easter, Herkenhoff, Gorovoy, and Bourgeois went into her backyard on Good Friday and each kissed the ground. After a few years, it was difficult for the artist to get down to the ground so they modified the ritual and began to embrace a tree instead.
Curatorial Remarks:: In July 2000, "Interview," also known as "Andy Warhol’s Interview," commissioned seven artists to create work to be reproduced in the October 2000 issue of the magazine. The resulting portfolio, “Stop and Smell the Roses,” is described in the issue as “a reminder that awareness of life’s incredibleness makes each day a better one.” Bourgeois contributed "Embracing the Tree" state II, variant 3 seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below. Cecily Brown, Pat Steir, Enzo Cucchi, Yoshitomo Nara, and the collaborative duo Tim Noble and Sue Webster also contributed work to the portfolio.
MoMA Credit Line:: Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:: 959.2008