LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Faces & Portraits, Figures

Techniques:

Photogravure

Description:

Photogravure, with chine collè

Support:

Smooth, wove Rives BFK paper with cream laid chine collé

Dimensions:

plate: 16 7/8 x 10 15/16" (42.8 x 27.8 cm); sheet: 25 15/16 x 19 5/8" (66 x 49.9 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Gravure, New York

Edition:

5 known impressions of version 2

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition in either version.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from version 1: composition, with naval added, enlarged photomechanically onto a new plate.

Background:

The source drawing was inspired by a sculpture, "Woman with a Secret," 1947-49, seen below in Related Works in Other Mediums.

Bourgeois admired the printing facilities of the Gravure workshop and also felt a personal rapport with the owner and master printer, Christian Guérin. Guérin helped the artist develop plates for several important projects in the early 1990s.

Artist’s Remarks:

Inscribed on the verso of the source drawing: "destroyed / and / resuciteé / She wolf [crossed out] fox. / the test is: / am I forgiven after / the destruction / la defense du père / le pardon du la mère / c'est le sign du / l'adulte / college sevigné. / to J.G."

Former Cat. No.:

W & S B13.2

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

565.1993

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY