LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

Eight-Headed Creature

Themes:

Animals & Insects

Techniques:

Drypoint, Engraving

Description:

Engraving and drypoint

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 11 15/16 x 9 15/16" (30.3 x 25.2 cm); sheet: 17 1/2 x 14" (44.4 x 35.5 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

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unpublished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.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, by burnishing: some distress marks in plate removed; some drypoint lines removed.
Changes from state I, in engraving: lines reinforced throughout; tongues added; line added across lower composition.
Changes from state I, in drypoint: eyes darkened.

Other Remarks:

Felix Harlan, of Harlan & Weaver, New York, remembers that the artist sometimes used the same plate for multiple compositions. This composition was developed on a previously used plate, with some elements of prior images still visible around the new composition. The test printing of distress marks, seen below in Related Works in Other Mediums, was made to determine if the plate was suitable for reuse before Bourgeois used it for this composition. The red ink and pencil composition was drawn on the resulting test printing, and depicts a choker necklace of the artist's design.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

1431.2012

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY