LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

Blue Dress

Themes:

Body Parts, Figures, Nature

Techniques:

Aquatint, Drypoint, Etching

Description:

Drypoint, etching, and aquatint, with pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Magnani Incisione paper

Dimensions:

plate: 29 13/16 x 21 11/16" (75.8 x 55.1 cm); sheet: 39 x 27 15/16" (99 x 71 cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois 98." lower right margin, pencil.

Publisher:

Julie Sylvester-Cabot,
Whitney Museum of American Art Editions, New York

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

28; plus 12 A.P., 3 P.P., 1 H.C., 1 B.A.T.

Impression:

"a.p. 5/12" lower left margin, pencil, unknown hand.

Edition Information:

Pencil additions to this plate do not occur on this plate in another portfolio (A.P. 1/12). It is not known whether pencil additions occur on this plate across the edition.

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
The progression of this composition, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved 3 plates.

Plate 1: line elements of composition; printed in black.

Plate 2: shading of dress; printed in blue.

Plate 3: shading of bones and shading of neck, leg, and kneecap; printed in pink and blue.

State Changes:
Plate 1 printed over plate 2, printed over plate 3.
Changes from state I, in drypoint: leg contour added, left femur bone narrowed.
Changes from state I, by burnishing: isolated kneecap obscured, lower left comp., left femur bone narrowed, dress adjusted to compensate for change to bone and leg.
Additions in pencil: ankle and toenail added.

Benefit Work:

For Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Background:

According to Bourgeois’s assistant Jerry Gorovoy, topiary work interested Bourgeois because the cutting and healing of the plant makes the tree stronger. He also points out the portfolio's connection to Bourgeois’s sister, Henriette, who had a condition that caused stiffness in her leg. Bourgeois referred to this as, "in effect, a wooden leg."

Print publisher Julie Sylvester-Cabot founded the Whitney Museum of American Art Editions in 1996, with the purpose of raising funds to be used for acquisitions. The “Topiary” portfolio had its debut at the Whitney in a small 1998 exhibition that also included Bourgeois's 1985 sculpture titled, “Henriette.”

Artist’s Remarks:

Inscribed on the verso of the second source drawing: "Le Moignon sort de la Manche Pliée"

Written on a loose sheet, c. 1990s:
“Topiary
The trainer, the teacher, the carver, the butcher
To reject (cut off) and be moral about it
That is the fun
To nurture and train to full potential (valuable, useful)
I am going to cut (reject) everything in sight because I did not get what I wanted
What
To be loved by 1, 2, 3, 4
c’est la peur […]”
(The Easton Foundation: LB-0050)

Installation Remarks:

The prints in this portfolio can be shown as a group, or individually.

Curatorial Remarks:

The compositions for plates 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the “Topiary” portfolio are related and appear to have shared some of the same source drawings and photocopy studies. Known studies are illustrated below in the Evolving Composition Diagram, and as Related Works in the Catalogue, for each plate.

Bibliography:

Manchester, Elizabeth. “Louise Bourgeois: Tree with Trunk, 1998.” Tate Modern website, 2003. www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bourgeois-tree-p78621/text-summary. Last accessed November 7, 2014.

This article connects themes in the portfolio to recurring themes in the whole of Bourgeois's artwork, such as amputation and mutilation, the use of trees and plants as a metaphor for the human psyche, and the emotional significance of color.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

416.1999.8

This Work in Other Collections:

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Tate Modern, London
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY