Louise Bourgeois. The Sky's the Limit (c. 1989)

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Louise Bourgeois. The Sky's the Limit. c. 1989

IMAGE PERMISSIONS

Cat. No. 1014.1

The Sky's the Limit

State/Variant:: Version 1 of 2, only state
Date:: c. 1989

Themes:: Architecture
Techniques:: Etching
Description:: Etching
Support:: Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:: plate: 8 15/16 x 4" (22.7 x 10.1 cm); sheet: 15 3/4 x 11 9/16" (40 x 29.4 cm)
Signature:: Not signed
Publisher:: unpublished
Printer:: Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
Edition:: 7 known impressions of version 1
Impression:: Not numbered
Edition Information:: Proof before the editioning of version 2, only state.
Background:: This version of the composition was initially developed in 1989 in conjunction with Benjamin Shiff, director of Osiris, as a preliminary trial for the book project "the puritan" (see below in Related Works in the Catalogue) although it did not ultimately appear in that book. Bourgeois and Shiff returned to the composition in 2003, creating a second version to issue in separate editions and include in the book "One's Sleep".
Artist’s Remarks:: "This is a warning against ambition. You build something like this, but there is no door. You come from down there... and look at your dream. The ambition is amazing."

Bourgeois talked generally about the tall tower: "It is transparent... it shows everything. Then there are the blues.... But it is used to hiding things, also... the process of hiding and of wanting to show complement each other. The glass tower is the demon of ambition. But that height is not reality... if you live at the level of that tower, life has passed you by... you are lost in a dream. You have to love your reality level... you have to love your everyday miserable trivial pursuit. The fun has to be in the running... you run all your life. You must not betray the present just becuase it is unbearable. A sick dog is better than no dog. It is bad, but it could be worse. If you live with this big dream, you will be destroyed... it is not reality." (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. “The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 156.)
Curatorial Remarks:: Three impressions of version 1 with creases anticipate the artist cutting the plate in two to remove the house at the bottom; there are no known impressions from the cut plate.
Former Cat. No.:: W & S 83
MoMA Credit Line:: Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:: 477.1993