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LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Louise Bourgeois: Complete Books & Prints
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Cat. No. 131, study 2

Untitlted (Study for Champfleurette, the White Cat)

State/Variant:
Study
Date:
1994
Themes:
Architecture
Description:
Pencil
Support:
Glassine
Dimensions:
sheet: 14 3/16 x 8 7/16" (36 x 21.5 cm)
Signature:
Not signed
Edition:
1 known tracing study; 1 known photocopy study
Background:
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.

According to Marie-Laure Bernadac, "The name of the cat is a feminisation of the French writer and art critic Jules Champfleury (1821-89)." (Quote cited in Morris, Frances and Marie-Laure Bernadac. "Louise Bourgeois." London: Tate Modern, 2007, p. 40.)

Champfleury authored "Les Chats," a book of essays on cats with illustrations by multiple artists, including Manet and Delacroix. (Champfleury, Jules and J. Rothschild, editor. "Les Chats." Paris: Librairie de la Société botanique de France, 1870.)
Curatorial Remarks:
In 1993, at the initiation of the printers at Harlan & Weaver, New York, Bourgeois rendered version 1 in lift ground aquatint based on the 1983 source drawing. The artist eventually abandoned the aquatint plate and began developing a second version in the drypoint technique. Bourgeois continued to work on version 2 into 1994, when she created an additional source drawing, a photocopy study, and a tracing study, to aid in further development of the composition. This tracing study shows Bourgeois considering placing a figure in the window at the right of the later states of version 2. The final state of version 2, in drypoint, etching, and aquatint, was published by Peter Blum Edition in 1994.
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
SC69.2014

Champfleurette, the White Cat
1993-1994

Source
1983

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette. 1983
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Champfleurette
Pencil on paper
1983

Source
1994

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1994
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Champfleurette, the White Cat
Ink and colored pencil on paper
1994

Studies

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette (Study for Champfleurette, the White Cat). 1994
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Study
1994
Louise Bourgeois. Untitlted (Study for Champfleurette, the White Cat). 1994
Study
1994

First Version

Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1993
Version 1 of 2, only state, variant
1993
Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1993
Version 1 of 2, only state, variant
1993

Second Version

Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1993
Version 2 of 2, state I of IV
1993
Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1993
Version 2 of 2, state I of IV, variant
1993
Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1993
Version 2 of 2, state II of IV
1993
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1993
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Version 2 of 2, state II of IV, variant
1993
Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1993
Version 2 of 2, state III of IV
1993
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Champfleurette, the White Cat. 1994
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Version 2 of 2, state IV of IV
1994