LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Animals & Insects, Motherhood & Family

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint

Support:

Smooth, wove Hahnemühle paper

Dimensions:

sheet: 17 3/16 x 15 1/16" (43.7 x 38.3 cm); plate: 11 15/16 x 9 15/16" (30.4 x 25.2 cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois 1999" lower right margin, pencil.

Publisher:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

25; plus 7 A.P., 5 P.P., 1 B.A.T., 1 H.C., 1 T.P.

Impression:

"AP 6/7" lower left margin, pencil, unknown hand.

Edition Information:

There is 1 known impression of state V, outside the edition, in MoMA's Collection (Accession Number 918.2008). It is not illustrated, due to its similarity to the impression seen here.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state IV, in drypoint: right breast further delineated.

Background:

According to the artist’s assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, Bourgeois began this composition by tracing an illustration from a book in her collection. The book had once been part of the inventory for Erasmus Books and Prints, the shop she opened for a brief period in the late 1950s.

Curatorial Remarks:

Publisher Harlan & Weaver groups the editioned state of this composition with ten other drypoints of 1999, under the title, “11 Drypoints.” Each of the 11 compositions can be displayed individually. The full set is as follows:
“The Accident”
“The Angry Cat”
“Don’t Put Your Foot in Your Mouth”
“Fear”
“Feet (Socks)”
“Fences Are Obsolete”
“Madeleine”
“Mosquito”
“Mother and Child”
“Please Hang in There”
“The Smell of the Feet”

Bibliography:

Malbert, Roger, and Juliet Mitchell. "Louise Bourgeois: Autobiographical Prints." London: Hayward, 2016. (Catalogue accompanying the touring exhibition "Louise Bourgeois Prints: Autobiographical Series and 11 Drypoints".)

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

23.2002

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY