LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Nature

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 55 13/16 x 10 13/16" (141.7 x 27.5 cm); sheet: 59 x 12 13/16" (149.9 x 32.5 cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois" lower right to right lower margin, pencil.

Inscription:

"first proof" lower left margin, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

3 known impressions of the only state, outside the unique variants

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition.

The third known impression of the only state is not in MoMA's Collection. It is not illustrated due to its similarity to the impressions seen here.

There are 2 known cancellation proofs, each with a large "X" drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate.

There is one known unique variant of this composition with hand additions titled "Mouillés Par Le Soir!!" It is seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

Background:

Benjamin Shiff, the director of the Osiris imprint, collaborated with Bourgeois in a highly experimental phase of printmaking that occupied the last years of her life, from 2005 to 2010. He first established a working relationship with the artist in the 1990s, but the late period is particularly noteworthy for the innovative and complex large-scale projects that evolved at that time. Shiff made use of professional workshops for printing, but he oversaw the creation of the printing plates as Bourgeois worked on them in her home studio. He also provided assistance as she added extensive hand additions and texts, and as she combined individual compositions into multi-panel works and illustrated books.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

995.2011

This Work in Other Collections:

Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY