LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Champfleurette; Bestiary: La Chatte

Descriptive Title:

Cat

Themes:

Animals & Insects

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with pencil, and red and black ink additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 11 1/2 x 11 5/8" (29.2 x 29.5 cm); sheet: 12 13/16 x 12 5/8" (32.5 x 32 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right margin, red ink.

Inscription:

Verso: "at Louise's. / Tea + Cookies / with Grace & Jerry / Chez Louise, / tea + cookies... / with Grace / & / Jerry / next date: / Thursday session: March 27, 1997" center sheet, black ink, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

2 known impressions of version 1, only state

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of version 2, state II.

Background:

“Metamorfosis” is a collaboration initiated by Maria Fluxà, a Spanish gallery owner and collector. Fluxà first encountered Bourgeois’s work at the 1982 MoMA retrospective and felt a particular emotional connection to the “Femme Maison.” She then began enthusiastically collecting Bourgeois’s work, which she displayed in her gallery, Lluc Fluxà, in Palma de Mallorca (Spain). Taking inspiration from Bourgeois's themes of memory, identity, and trauma, Fluxà also staged a performance at her gallery titled “Götterdämmerung” that dealt with her own upbringing.

In 1993, Fluxà met Bourgeois at the MoMA opening of a Joan Miró exhibition, introducing herself as an admirer and collector. She later visited the artist, which led to discussions about a possible collaboration between the two.

Bourgeois had a sympathetic response to Fluxà’s difficult relationship with her father, a problem she shared. After meeting over the next several years, she agreed to participate in a collaborative work that became the illustrated book entitled, "Metamorfosis." Here, Fluxà creates a fusion of words and imagery that conflates her own identity with that of the artist. Bourgeois allowed images of her work to contribute to this fusion, and also created five prints especially for the volume. The book was published by Galerie Lelong, Paris, in 1999. For a deluxe edition, the volume was accompanied by a portfolio with two additional prints, making a total of seven compositions created by Bourgeois in conjunction with this project.

In 2005, Fluxà and Dolors Caballero organized the exhibition and catalogue, "Louise Bourgeois: Repairs in the sky" at the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation, in Mallorca. In 2008, Fluxà and Caballero also organized "La Sage Femme: Louise Bourgeois," an exhibition and catalogue of Fluxà's collection of Bourgeois works, at Sala Espacio AV, in Murcia (Spain).

In the 1950s, when Bourgeois was living with her husband and children in an apartment on 18th Street in New York City, the family had two cats: Champfleurette and Tyger.

Curatorial Remarks:

Bourgeois worked with the printer Harlan & Weaver, New York, to develop the compositions in "Metamorfosis." The plates were then turned over to the printer Atelier Tanguy Garric, Paris, for editioning and publication by Galerie Lelong, Paris.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

701.2008

This Work in Other Collections:

Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY