Louise Bourgeois. The Awakening (2007)

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NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION

Cat. No. 830, unique variant

The Awakening

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

Themes:: Abstraction, Nature
Techniques:: Etching
Description:: Soft ground etching, with watercolor, gouache, ink, and colored pencil additions
Support:: Paper (4 sheets)
Dimensions:: plate (each): 60 5/16 × 27 7/8" (153.2 × 70.8 cm) (dimensions reflect full plate size; these are all partial printings); sheet (a): 59 × 27 1/2" (149.9 × 69.9 cm); sheet (b): 59 × 27 3/8" (149.9 × 69.5 cm); sheet (c): 58 7/8 × 27 3/8" (149.5 × 69.5 cm); sheet (d): 58 7/8 × 27 1/4" (149.5 × 69.2 cm)
Signature:: panel (a): "Louise Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.
panel (b): "Louise Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.
panel (c): "Louise Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.
panel (d): "Louise Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.
Inscription:: panel (a) verso: "1 [circled] left / the awakening" pencil, artist's hand.
panel (b) verso: "2 [circled] Center left / the awakening" pencil, artist's hand.
panel (c) verso: "3 [circled] Center Right / the awakening" pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d) verso: "4 [circled] Right / the awakening" pencil, artist's hand.
Publisher:: Osiris, New York
Printer:: Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
Edition:: Unique
Impression:: Not numbered
Edition Information:: This is one of 2 unique variants outside the edition, printed alone or in combination with another plate in a multi-panel work. 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:
"The Awakening"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, "Differentiate"

About the "The Awakening" edition:
Within the edition, selective wiping varies significantly from impression to impression. (See two examples in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.) There is 1 known impression of the only state, outside the edition. It is inscribed "premierè épreuve" in the lower left composition by the artist, and signed "Louise Bourgeois" in the lower right composition, both in pencil. There are 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, paper type, and verso inscriptions could not be fully documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The plate dimensions are from impression number 2/11 in MoMA's Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.