
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Cat. No. 1004.2, unique variant
Paris Toujours
- State/Variant:
- Version 2 of 2, only state, unique variant
- Date:
- 2007
- Descriptive Title:
-
English translation: "Always Paris"
- Themes:
- Words
- Techniques:
- Etching
- Description:
- Soft ground etching, with watercolor, gouache, and pencil additions
- Support:
- Paper (3 attached sheets)
- Dimensions:
- sheet (overall): 53 3/4 × 39 1/2" (136.5 × 100.3 cm)
- Signature:
- panel (c): "Louise Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.
- Publisher:
- Osiris, New York
- Printer:
- Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
- Edition:
- Unique
- Impression:
- Not numbered
- Edition Information:
- About version 2:
This unique variant incorporates 3 impressions of version 2, only state.
The source drawing for version 2 is the verso of Untitled (no. 16) in "10 AM is When You Come to Me" (set 6), from the series of installation sets (1-10), which can be seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.
About the edition of version 1:
The pencil hand additions vary slightly across the edition; they consist of a dot on the "i" and an extension of the top of the letter "s" in the word "Paris."
Although each impression is numbered out of 27, there are only a total of 26 impressions in the edition, as impression 13/27 was never made.
There is 1 known impression of version 1, only state, outside the edition. It is seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below. - State Changes and Additions:
- Changes from version 1: size and spacing of letters slightly altered based on source drawing.
- Background:
- This composition originates from the drawing series "Paris Toujour Paris" seen in Related Works in Other Mediums below. There are twelve sets of "Paris Toujour Paris." Each set contains ten handwritten phrases and one drawing, all on music paper with staves drawn in pencil. The phrases vary slightly, but are mostly consistent from set to set. Bourgeois considered turning each phrase into a print edition. She proofed nine compositions in total, but only two were editioned: "C'est Si Bon" and "Paris Toujours." All are seen in Related Works in the Catalogue below.
- Curatorial Remarks:
- The color of the hand additions, plate dimensions, and paper type could not be documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY