LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Description:

Pencil and blue carbon

Support:

Slightly textured, wove paper

Dimensions:

sheet: 11 3/4 x 11 5/8" (29.8 x 29.5 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Edition:

1 known tracing study

Background:

According to Felix Harlan, of Harlan & Weaver, New York, Bourgeois's map compositions stem from her desire to sort through memories and associations with different places. The artist used preexisting maps as references for her own abstracted compositions, excluding the information essential to map reading. In this way, the maps served more as personal documents for the artist, rather than as references or guides.

This composition was begun in June 1995, while Bourgeois was thinking about an upcoming show in Brazil and began musing about the Tango. While affirming the Latin American origin of the dance, Bourgeois also felt it had some connection with Scandinavia. In pondering such associations, she had the idea to use the Tango as a symbolic link between the Americas and Europe, but the project remained unfinished.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

SC474.2010

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY