LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Architecture

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with red ink additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Hahnemühle paper

Dimensions:

plate: 7 15/16 × 10 7/8" (20.1 × 27.7 cm); sheet: 11 x 15 1/2" (28 x 39.4 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right margin, red ink.

Inscription:

Verso: "Stephen Spender / said good fences / make good neighbours / I say no [italicized and underlined] fences make / good neighbours" upper left sheet, pencil, artist's hand; "fences are obsolete, / 1999" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

3 known impressions of the only state, outside the edition

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

The additional known impression of the only state, outside the edition, is in MoMA's Collection (Accession Number: 906.2008). It is not illustrated, due to its similarity to the published impression seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

Curatorial Remarks:

Publisher Harlan & Weaver groups the editioned state of this composition with ten other drypoints of 1999, under the title, “11 Drypoints.” Each of the 11 compositions can be displayed individually. The full set is as follows:
“The Accident”
“The Angry Cat”
“Don’t Put Your Foot in Your Mouth”
“Fear”
“Feet (Socks)”
“Fences Are Obsolete”
“Madeleine”
“Mosquito”
“Mother and Child”
“Please Hang in There”
“The Smell of the Feet”

Bibliography:

Malbert, Roger, and Juliet Mitchell. "Louise Bourgeois: Autobiographical Prints." London: Hayward, 2016. (Catalogue accompanying the touring exhibition "Louise Bourgeois Prints: Autobiographical Series and 11 Drypoints".)

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

908.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY