LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

English translation: "To Infinity"

Themes:

Abstraction, Nature

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching, with selective wiping, and red and white gouache, red watercolor, and pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, thick wove paper

Dimensions:

plate (in 2 horizontal parts): 35 11/16 × 59 7/8" (90.7 × 152.1 cm); sheet: 40 × 60" (101.6 × 152.4 cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois Louise Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.

Publisher:

Osiris, New York

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

Unique

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

This is one of three "À l'Infini" studies made from the same plate used in the edition "Love and Kisses," seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below. The plate was also used for the two "À l'Infini" installation sets. For the studies and installation sets, the "Love and Kisses" plate was partially inked and placed in a horizontal position, varying in orientation. (For the "Love and Kisses" edition and unique variant, the plate was fully inked and placed in the vertical position.)

The studies are separate from the two installation sets of "À l'Infini." Bourgeois and the publisher designated these works as studies because they are independent from the larger installation sets. Usually, throughout this catalogue, the term "study" describes photocopies and tracings that were used in the process of developing a composition.

To clarify how the artist used this plate, the studies and sheets from "À l'Infini" sets 1 and 2 are organized by their orientation (A or B) in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

"À l'Infini" (set 1), 14 sheets: 8 in horizontal A; 6 in horizontal B.

"À l'Infini" (set 2), 16 sheets: 9 in horizontal A; 7 in horizontal B.

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
Printed in black.

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.

Installation Remarks:

Although the "À l'Infini" studies are numbered (#1), (#2), and (#3), they are independent works. Each can be shown alone, or with one or two of the other studies. The installation sets of "À l'Infini" must be exhibited in their entirety.

Curatorial Remarks:

On this study, extensive hand additions obscure the platemark. The plate dimensions are from the impression of "Love and Kisses" in MoMA's Collection.

Bibliography:

Küster, Ulf. "Louise Bourgeois." Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2011, 106-117.

This volume was published on the occasion of an exhibition of the artist's works at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Switzerland, held from September 2011 to January 2012. The exhibition marked the artist's 100th birthday, and juxtaposed her works with those of other artists she knew personally. The chapter "A l'infini" [sic] describes the making of the series and how it relates to the work of Alberto Giacometti.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

1870.2012

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY