LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Fabric Works

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

panel (a): Soft ground etching, with white gouache and pencil additions
panel (b): Fabric collage
panel (c): Soft ground etching

Support:

3 attached panels:
panel (a): Paper
panel (b): Fabric
panel (c): Fabric

Dimensions:

plate (a): 59 1/8 × 19 9/16" (150.1 × 49.7 cm); plate (c): 59 3/16 × 19 5/16" (150.3 × 49.1 cm); sheet (overall): 58 1/2 × 60 1/4" (148.6 × 153 cm)

Signature:

panel (c): "LB" lower right comp., stitched in black thread.

Publisher:

Osiris, New York

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

Unique

Impression:

Not numbered

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
This 3-panel composition is made up of plates that were issued in 2 separate editions, which are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

panel (a): plate from "Incognito."
For this unique variant, the plate is in the reverse orientation as the edition.

panel (c): plate from "The Chain of Events."
For this unique variant, the plate is in the same orientation as the edition.

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 paper type could not be documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The plate dimensions are from the impressions of "Incognito" and "The Chain of Events" in MoMA's Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY