LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Figures, Motherhood & Family

Techniques:

Drypoint, Engraving

Description:

Engraving and drypoint, with red ink and blue watercolor additions

Support:

Smooth, thick wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 10 7/8 x 8 7/16" (27.7 x 21.5 cm); sheet: 14 3/4 x 9 1/2" (37.5 x 24.2 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

3 known variant impressions of state VIII

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state VIII on fabric.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state VII in drypoint: both figures' hair further delineated.
Additions in red watercolor: female figure's body filled in; baby's body filled in, anticipating state IX.
Additions in blue watercolor: oval border slightly delineated, anticipating state IX.

Background:

"Umbilical Cord" relates to a monumental 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 sculpture in the tower titled, "I Redo," featured a mother and child attached by an umbilical cord. Bourgeois also made another related print called "Do Not Abandon Me," 2000, which includes a similar mother and child.

Curatorial Remarks:

The red hand coloring is notably flat in this impression, suggesting that a stencil was used and the ink was rolled on, as was done for the state VI impressions. MoMA's Conservation Department has confirmed that the red ink was applied by hand and not through a stencil.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

1429.2012

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY