Louise Bourgeois. My Secret Life (2007)

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NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION

Cat. No. 772, unique variant 1

My Secret Life

State/Variant:: Only state, unique variant
Date:: 2007

Themes:: Abstraction
Techniques:: Etching
Description:: Soft ground etching, with ink, watercolor, gouache, pencil, and colored pencil additions
Support:: Paper (4 sheets)
Dimensions:: plate (a, b, c, d) (each): 60 × 12" (152.4 × 30.5 cm) (dimensions reflect full plate size; these are partial prints); sheet (a): 59 3/16 × 12 1/2" (150.3 × 31.8 cm); sheet (b): 59 1/4 × 12 3/4" (150.5 × 32.4 cm); sheet (c): 59 5/16 × 12 1/2" (150.7 × 31.8 cm); sheet (d): 59 5/8 × 12 3/4" (151.4 × 32.4 cm)
Signature:: panel (a): "Louise Bourgeois" lower center comp., black colored pencil.
panel (b):"Louise Bourgeois" lower center comp., black colored pencil.
panel (c):"Louise Bourgeois" lower center comp., black colored pencil.
panel (d):"Louise / Bourgeois" lower center comp., black colored pencil.
Inscription:: panel (a) verso: "1 [circled] / left / my secret / life" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (b) verso: "2 [circled] / center left / my secret life" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (c) verso: "3 [circled] / center right / my secret life" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d) verso: "4 [circled] / right / my secret life" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
Publisher:: Osiris, New York
Printer:: Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
Edition:: Unique
Impression:: Not numbered
Edition Information:: This is one of 4 unique variants outside the edition to incorporate this plate, printed alone or in combination with another plate in multi-panel works. When the plate is used alone, the work is included in the Evolving Composition Diagram. When it is printed with another plate, it is included in Related Works in the Catalogue.

See Evolving Composition Diagram:
"My Secret Life"
Untitled, no. 2 of 3, from the series, "Sainte Nitouche"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
Untitled, no. 5 of 5, from the series, "The Vocabulary of Seduction"
Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, "What Why When Where Who and How!!"

About the "My Secret Life" edition:
There is 1 known variant impression outside the edition, and 2 known cancellation proofs (each with a large "X" drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate).
Background:: Benjamin Shiff, the director of the Osiris imprint, collaborated with Bourgeois in a highly experimental phase of printmaking that occupied the last years of her life, from 2005 to 2010. He first established a working relationship with the artist in the 1990s, but the late period is particularly noteworthy for the innovative and complex large-scale projects that evolved at that time. Shiff made use of professional workshops for printing, but he oversaw the creation of the printing plates as Bourgeois worked on them in her home studio. He also provided assistance as she added extensive hand additions and texts, and as she combined individual compositions into multi-panel works and illustrated books.
Curatorial Remarks:: The color of the hand additions and paper type could not be documented because this work 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.