
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Cat. No. 1337
The Pink Fear
- State/Variant:
- Only state
- Date:
- 1989-2003
- Themes:
- Abstraction, Figures
- Techniques:
- Etching
- Description:
- Etching, with ink, watercolor, gouache, and pencil additions
- Support:
- Paper, mounted to paper
- Dimensions:
- plate (trimmed; approx.): 6 7/8 × 5" (17.5 × 12.7 cm); mount: 14 3/4 × 10 13/16" (37.5 × 27.5 cm)
- Signature:
- "Louise Bourgeois" right lower margin, pencil.
- Inscription:
- "For Ben." left lower margin, pencil, artist's hand.
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
- Edition:
- 2 known impressions of the only state, outside the edition
- Impression:
- Not numbered
- Edition Information:
- Proof before the editioning of the only state.
Outside the edition of 3, there is a diptych composition which combines this plate with the plate editioned as “The Blue Fear.” The diptych was published as part of the illustrated book, "One's Sleep." In the illustrated book edition, each book includes 18 plates with hand additions. Both the dyptich composition and “The Blue Fear” can be seen below in Related Works in the Catalogue. - Background:
- In 1989, to help Bourgeois prepare for what would be a major project together, "the puritan," Ben Shiff of Osiris, New York, provided her with test plates on which she made various technical experiments. The editioned plates "The Blue Fear" and "The Pink Fear" developed from one of these experiments. Bourgeois and Shiff returned to the composition in 2003, creating impressions for inclusion in the book, “One’s Sleep".
- Curatorial Remarks:
- The hand additions and 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 impression in MoMA's Collection. The overall mediums and sheet dimensions for the series were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY