LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Body Parts, Figures

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with selective wiping

Support:

Smooth, wove Hahnemühle paper

Dimensions:

plate: 11 7/8 x 9 15/16" (30.2 x 25.2 cm); sheet: 17 1/8 x 15 1/16" (43.5 x 38.2 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., 2 H.C., 1 B.A.T., 1 T.P.

Impression:

"AP 6/7" lower left margin, pencil

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, in drypoint: mouth delineated.

Artist’s Remarks:

Inscribed on the verso of the source drawing: "De Rage ou se devore / le pied. / You certainly put your / foot in your mouth. / You walk on egg shells. / Caught on the way out. / Eat your words. / Shoot yourself in the foot. / Shoot yourself in the foot / at Moma you should not put your / foot in your mouth / spill the beans"

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:

17.2002

This Work in Other Collections:

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY