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"Artist's Proof 2" lower left composition, pencil, unknown hand.
Edition Information:
According to printer Judith Solodkin of SOLO Impression, most of the A.P. and H.C. impressions of this composition include gold acrylic hand additions in the figures' necklaces, as seen in the other impression of version 2 in the Evolving Composition Diagram. This A.P. impression, in MoMA's collection, does not include the gold hand additions. According to Judith Solodkin, none of the impressions numbered 1/150-150/150 have gold hand additions.
State Changes and Additions:
Matrices: The published impressions of version 2 included 8 lithography matrices.
State Changes: Changes from version 1: composition transferred to new matrices in lithography. Oval shape added at base in place of horizon line, gradation added to background.
Benefit Work:
For The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Background:
Version 2 of this composition was published as a benefit for The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia to help fund the 2001-02 exhibition "Louise Bourgeois at the Hermitage." It was the first time the work of a living American artist was shown at this venue. Julie Sylvester curated the exhibition and published the print under the imprint, Bermuda Editions. A reproduction of the print (version 1, state IV, variant 1 in the Evolving Composition Diagram, below) formed the cover of a special edition of the exhibition catalogue: Sylvester, Julie and Mikhail Piotrovsky. "Louise Bourgeois at the Hermitage." St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Museum, 2001.
Curatorial Remarks:
The imagery of wrapped couples in this composition is related to a performance piece Bourgeois created in 1992. At that time, she executed a 178-foot long cloth banner with a red screen-printed text, titled "She Lost It." The text comprises a self-authored parable. (See "She Lost It" below in Related Works in the Catalogue.) On December 5, 1992, the artist orchestrated a multi-part performance in Philadelphia with the banner as the centerpiece. The performance began with the banner fully wrapped around a single performer. Slowly the banner was unwrapped by other performers and re-wrapped around a standing and embracing couple. The parable printed on the banner could be read by the audience as the unwrapping and re-wrapping took place. When the embracing couple was fully wrapped by the banner, it looked very much like one of the "Couples" in this composition.
In this variant A.P. impression of the only state of version 2, the figures' necklaces were not painted gold. Any other variations from the impression included in the edition, seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, is due to photography.
According to the Solo Impression documentation sheet for this print edition, Julie Sylvester was called Julie Sylvester-Cabot at Bermuda Editions at the time of publication.
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
35.2002
This Work in Other Collections:
The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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