LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Body Parts, Figures, Motherhood & Family

Techniques:

Aquatint, Drypoint, Engraving

Description:

Engraving, aquatint, and drypoint, with red watercolor, black crayon, and red pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 9 7/8 × 7 15/16" (25.1 × 20.2 cm); sheet: 14 5/8 × 11 5/8" (37.2 × 29.5 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of state VI

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition at any state.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state V, in aquatint: tone throughout torso darkened.
Changes from state V, in engraving: line added to torso in lower center composition.

Curatorial Remarks:

Toward the end of her life, Bourgeois made a large body of red gouache drawings related to the theme of Motherhood & Family. Bourgeois usually made several iterations of each scene, exploring pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, among other subjects related to new life. Some drawings were used as source works for print compositions. As the print composition evolved, Bourgeois continued to explore the same subject through drawing. See Related Works in Other Mediums below for examples.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

1566.2012

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY