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LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Louise Bourgeois: Complete Books & Prints
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Cat. No. 510.2/I, variant 1

The Smile

State/Variant:
Version 2 of 2, state I of IV, variant
Date:
2001
Descriptive Title:
Woman Leaning on a Column
Themes:
Faces & Portraits, Objects
Techniques:
Drypoint
Description:
Drypoint, with selective wiping, and blue carbon, and red and black ink additions
Support:
Slightly textured, wove paper
Dimensions:
plate: 4 15/16 x 6 7/8" (12.6 x 17.5 cm); sheet: 15 1/16 x 9 13/16" (38.2 x 25 cm)
Signature:
"LB" lower right margin, red ink.
Publisher:
unpublished
Printer:
Harlan & Weaver, New York
Edition:
2 known variant impressions of version 2, state I
Impression:
Not numbered
Edition Information:
Proof before the editioning of version 2, state IV.
State Changes and Additions:
Changes from version 1, in drypoint: top part of composition transferred to new plate and increased in scale.
Curatorial Remarks:
To create the editioned version of this composition, Bourgeois began with "The Obese Woman," which depicts a woman leaning on a column. She developed the image through a series of state changes before abandoning the idea of depicting a full figure. In the second version, "The Smile," only the top part of the composition was transferred to a new plate. Carbon transfers of the preexisting imagery were used to aid in the process of developing the reconfigured composition.

"The Smile" was editioned as the unbound frontispiece for the 2001 book "Louise Bourgeois: Destruction of the Father - Reconstruction of the Father, Schriften und Interviews, 1923-2000," seen below in Related Works in Other Mediums. Edited by Marie-Laure Bernadac and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, and published by Ammann Verlag, Zurich, the German reissue is an updated version of the 1998 book published by Violette, London. The 2001 book is a hardcover and comes in a slipcase.
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
1099.2008
This Work in Other Collections:
Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich, Switzerland

The Obese Woman and The Smile
2001-2002

Source
2001

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION The Obese Woman
Ink and pencil on paper
2001

First Version

Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state I of VII
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state II of VII
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state III of VII
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state IV of VII, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state V of VII, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state V of VII, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state VI of VII
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state VII of VII
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2001
Version 1 of 2, state VII of VII, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Obese Woman. 2002
Version 1 of 2, state VII of VII, variant
2002

Second Version

Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state I of IV, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state I of IV, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state II of IV
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state III of IV, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state III of IV, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state III of IV, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state III of IV, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state III of IV, variant
2001
Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state III of IV, variant
2001
Published Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state IV of IV
2001
Published Louise Bourgeois. The Smile. 2001
Version 2 of 2, state IV of IV
2001