LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Nature

Techniques:

Engraving, Etching

Description:

Etching and engraving, with red ink, puncture hole and cut-out additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 12 7/8 × 9 15/16" (32.7 × 25.3 cm); sheet: 17 3/8 x 11" (44.2 x 28 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right corner, red ink. "LB" upper left corner [upside down], red ink.

Inscription:

Verso: [sketch of several concentric circles indicating the area of the print which indicates Easton, Connecticut, on the recto], red ink, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of state V

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition at any state.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state IV, in etching: further rivers and roads added in lower left composition; various roads and rivers in lower composition reinforced.
Additions by puncture: hole added indicating Easton, Connecticut; center left portion near long river cut out.

Background:

According to Felix Harlan, of Harlan & Weaver, New York, Bourgeois's map compositions stem from her desire to sort through memories and associations with different places. The artist used preexisting maps as references for her own abstracted compositions, excluding the information essential to map reading. In this way, the maps served more as personal documents for the artist, rather than as references or guides.

In 1941, Bourgeois and her family purchased a small country house in Easton, Connecticut, which remains in the family. Its location is encircled several times in the center right of this composition.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

1082.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY