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Changes from state III, in engraving: additional rivers at added in lower left composition; lower composition further delineated. Additions by puncture: hole added indicating Easton, Connecticut.
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.
In 1941, Bourgeois and her family purchased a small country house in Easton, Connecticut, which remains in the family. Its location is encircled several times in the center right of this composition.
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