Cat. No. 247/IX
Umbilical Cord
- State/Variant:
- State IX of IX
- Date:
- 2002
- Themes:
- Figures, Motherhood & Family
- Techniques:
- Aquatint, Drypoint, Engraving
- Description:
- Engraving, aquatint, and drypoint
- Support:
- Smooth, wove paper
- Dimensions:
- plate: 10 7/8 x 8 7/16" (27.6 x 21.4 cm); sheet: 18 1/8 x 14 15/16" (46 x 38 cm)
- Signature:
- "Louise Bourgeois 2002" lower right margin, pencil.
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- Harlan & Weaver, New York
- Edition:
- 3 known impressions of state IX
- Impression:
- "t.p." lower left margin, pencil, artist's hand.
- Edition Information:
- Proof after the editioning of state VIII on fabric.
The additional 2 known impressions of this composition are not illustrated, due to their similarity to the impression seen here.
Although Bourgeois inscribed one impression of this state as a T.P., and another as a B.A.T., these are not conventional designations, as this state was never published in an edition. - State Changes and Additions:
- Changes from state VIII in aquatint: oval border delineated; baby's body filled in.
- Background:
- "Umbilical Cord" relates to a monumental installation for the inaugural exhibition in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in 2000. The installation consisted of "Maman," a 30' steel sculpture of a spider, and "I Do, I Undo, I Redo," three steel towers ranging in height from 42' to 57'. Each tower contained a different sculpture of a mother and child inside a bell jar. The sculpture in the tower titled, "I Redo," featured a mother and child attached by an umbilical cord. Bourgeois also made another related print called "Do Not Abandon Me," 2000, which includes a similar mother and child.
- MoMA Credit Line:
- Gift of the artist
- MoMA Accession Number:
- 1430.2012
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY