LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Faces & Portraits, Objects

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with selective wiping, and green ink additions

Support:

Slightly textured, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 11 7/8 x 9 15/16" (30.1 x 25.3 cm); sheet: 14 x 10 7/8" (35.5 x 27.7 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of state II

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state III.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I in drypoint: shoulders added.
Additions in green ink: further delineation of figure's upper head, anticipating state III.

Curatorial Remarks:

Bourgeois alludes here to the episode in Marcel Proust's novel "À la recherche du temps perdu" (Remembrance of Things Past) in which the protagonist bites into a madeleine and is suddenly transported back in time, recalling the story of his life.

Publisher Harlan & Weaver groups the editioned state of this composition on paper 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:

910.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY