Cat. No. 230.2/III, variant
Mother and Child
- State/Variant:
- Version 2 of 2, state III of III, variant
- Date:
- 1999
- Themes:
- Architecture, Figures, Motherhood & Family
- Techniques:
- Drypoint
- Description:
- Drypoint, with pencil and white gouache additions
- Support:
- Smooth, wove paper
- Dimensions:
- plate: 11 7/8 x 9 15/16" (30.1 x 25.2 cm); sheet: 15 3/8 x 13" (39 x 33.1 cm)
- Signature:
- "LB" lower right margin, pencil.
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- Harlan & Weaver, New York
- Edition:
- 3 known impressions of version 2, state III, outside the editions on paper and fabric
- Impression:
- "AP" lower left margin, pencil, artist's hand.
- Edition Information:
- Bourgeois wrote "AP" in the location where an Artist's Proof would usually be designated. However, this impression is not among the Artist's Proofs in this edition, which are documented with a number. (See MoMA Accession Number 419.1999 in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.)
The third known impression of version 2, state III is in MoMA's Collection (Accession Number: 925.2008). Is not illustrated due to its simlarity to the impression seen here. - State Changes and Additions:
- Changes from version 2, state II in drypoint: female figure's hair and features further delineated; child's genitals and eye delineated; chimney-like elements filled in.
Distress marks lightened somewhat through inking and wiping.
Additions in white gouache: female figure's face and hair covered.
Additions in pencil: female figure's hair reconfigured and her face covered. - Curatorial Remarks:
- Publisher Harlan & Weaver groups the editioned state of this composition on paper 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” - Other Remarks:
- Printer Harlan & Weaver does not recall the reason for making the very similar version 2 of this composition.
- 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:
- 924.2008
- This Work in Other Collections:
- The Detroit Institute of Arts, MI
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY






















