Louise Bourgeois. The Ladder of Success (2002)

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Louise Bourgeois. The Ladder of Success. 2002

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION

Cat. No. 1021

The Ladder of Success

State/Variant:: Only state
Date:: 2002

Themes:: Objects
Techniques:: Aquatint, Etching, Photogravure
Description:: Soft ground etching, aquatint, and photogravure, with watercolor, gouache, ink, and pencil additions
Support:: Paper
Dimensions:: plate (overall): 29 7/16 × 11 5/8" (74.8 × 29.6 cm); sheet: 30 7/8 × 12 5/8" (78.4 × 32.1 cm)
Signature:: "Louise Bourgeois" lower right margin, pencil.
Inscription:: Verso: "the ladder of success" pencil, artist's hand.
Publisher:: Osiris, New York
Printer:: Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
Edition:: 3; plus an illustrated book edition of 12
Impression:: "Study 3/3" verso, pencil, artist's hand.
Edition Information:: In the edition of 3 individual impressions with hand additions, each is designated by the artist as a "study." (Usually in this catalogue, the term “study” describes photocopies and tracings that were used in the process of developing a composition.)

A separate edition of this composition was published as part of an illustrated book titled, "One's Sleep." The illustrated book includes 18 plates with hand additions. (See Evolving Composition Diagram.)
State Changes and Additions:: Matrices:
Two plates were used to create this composition. Neither plate contains ladder imagery, which was added entirely in hand additions. According to the publisher, the bottom plate is a photogravure of the top plate.

Prior to the development of this composition, the upper plate was used without the lower plate, and in combination with other plates, as part of a separate untitled composition. See Related Works in the Catalogue.
Background:: The plate used for this composition was initially developed in 1989 in conjunction with Benjamin Shiff, director of Osiris, as a preliminary trial for the book project "the puritan" (see below in Related Works in the Catalogue) although it did not ultimately appear in that book. Bourgeois and Shiff returned to the composition in 2003, creating impressions with hand additions, and also impressions for inclusion in the book, “One’s Sleep.”
Curatorial Remarks:: The plate dimensions and paper type could not be documented because this impression is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The plate dimensions are from the impressions in MoMA’s Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.